Letter: Running a stop sign

It’s a sunny day, and you have finally broken free from the monotony of stop-and-go traffic. As your two beautiful children in the backseat sing along to the radio, your wife nudges you to swing through the coffee shop. Holding fresh lattes, you pull out and turn down an old country road instead of hitting the highway. You are soaking it all in – the serenity, the joy of family, the foamy goodness of coffee with a hint of pistachio, when suddenly, you notice the blue and red lights in your rearview.

The officer approaches the passenger window and asks how your day is going. He takes your license and registration and then asks “Do you know why I pulled you over today?” As you sit there clueless, he says he has been following you for a couple minutes, and you were going 50 in a 35. To top it all off, you went right through a stop sign without even slowing down. He hands you a ticket, tells you to be more careful, and to have a good rest of your day.

You have a choice to make – you can be furious at this perceived injustice, or you can admit you were doing something illegal and take the appropriate steps to make it right.

Now, let’s be reasonable: he didn’t pull you over because of the vehicle you were driving or because you were in Southern Indiana. He didn’t give you a ticket because you had a criminal record, and he didn’t spare you just because you were a hard working, moral man. What you were doing was illegal, even if you didn’t intend for it to be. He was simply doing his job by enforcing a fair law that helps keep everyone safe.

I understand there is an immense amount of emotion surrounding immigration, but whether people intended to come here illegally or not, the word still means illegal. I am 100% for people coming to America, but there is a way to do it right. Nearly all other countries have strict laws for entering. It is not unreasonable for us to want people to be here legally. Romans 13 leads a Christian to follow the laws of a country unless they disobey God’s Laws – Getting appropriate paperwork does not.

Have a great day!

James Young
Pastor of Living Hope Baptist Church of Jasper