Love and Ladders

Here is my Ambassador article submission for the month, it should run in October.

Love and Ladders

The greatest commandment is Love. We are called to be Love to the world around us. The Love we know as Christians is the truth that separates us from other religions. Unfortunately there are days we don’t feel very loving. On such a day I was walking through the parking lot and saw a pair of scary looking people coming in my direction. I really didn’t want to have to talk to them, so naturally I pulled out my phone and began to act like I was deep in text conversation. Imagine my surprise when I walked straight into a ladder with my face. Someone had it hanging out of their truck, conveniently right level with my forehead. So WHACK! I walk into it at a decent speed, since I was running late for Spanish, and the sound echoes through the parking lot.

My thoughts went as follows; “OWWW, WHAT ON EARTH… BUT WHY?? Oh I hope no one noticed… AM I BLEED-“

“Are you OK?? Oh honey, ouch! Let me see.”

Yes. The scary couple who I was trying to avoid having to make even parking lot conversation (which consists of a smile and a nod at most) was concerned and coming to my rescue.

“Am…Am…Am I bleeding??” I asked as I removed my hand from my smarting forehead.

“No, you’re good.” The scruffy lady assured me. “Do you need anything, hun?” her daunting friend asked.

By now I’m feeling lower than an ant, ‘A helmet and a new attitude’ I thought as I thanked them and stumbled off to class. I had a headache, but I learned a lesson that day; Look up and stay alert in parking lots. No, I’m kidding. I should have known better, as kids my granddad used to drill my sisters and me on parking lot safety. The real lesson here is that God’s people shouldn’t be afraid of, or worse feel superior than anyone. How can I show Christ’s love with my nose buried in my phone? It isn’t cute and it’s not OK to have days like that. I am called to be Love, so I need to step up and be that Love. I can’t stand there on my soap box giving my testimony of how this Great God I love came in and changed my heart and my life, and then turn around and ignore the opportunity to even just smile at someone who was Divinely placed in my path. How else will the hurting and lost come to know the Awesome God we serve if we the body don’t start to move? There isn’t much else to it.

(But on a side note: Seriously people, who has a ladder just sticking out of their truck like that in a college parking lot?? If you have a ladder maliciously hanging out at face level, you should put something eye-catching on it for safety; like a red flag or road flares or a disco ball. Something.)