Healthy SoFlo Issue 51 - Inca Goes Above and Beyond to Provide Safe & Healthy Foods

HEALTHY LIFESTYLE · AUGUST 2017
Maybe you’ve heard
the story of a good
citizen who was being tailgated by a stressed-out
woman on a busy street. Suddenly, the light at the
intersection just in front of them turned yellow. The
good citizen did the right thing by stopping at the crosswalk – even
though he could have beaten the red light by gunning it.
FAITH &
'ORDINARY LIFE'
car while you were blowing your
horn, flipping off the guy in front
of you, and cursing a blue streak. Then I noticed the ‘Choose Life’
license plate holder, the ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ bumper sticker,
the ‘Follow Me to Sunday School’ bumper sticker, and the chromeplated
Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally, I assumed you
had stolen the car.”
The tailgating woman hit the roof – and her horn. She was screaming
in frustration because she had missed her chance to get through
the intersection. As she was still in mid-rant – alternately pounding
the steering wheel and making an ugly hand gesture to the fellow in
front of her – she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the
face of a very serious police officer.
The officer ordered her to exit her car with hands up. He put
handcuffs on her. He took her to the police station, where she was
searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding cell.
After a couple of hours, a police captain approached the cell and
opened the door.
The woman was escorted back to the booking desk where the
arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects. He said,
“I’m very sorry for my mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your
Ouch! Somewhere through the centuries, an idea has gained
currency that says we can be Christians in the same way most
people are Democrats and Republicans, Rotarians and Lions Club
members. We show up for meetings, pay our dues, and wear the
insignia. For the most part, however, it is acceptable to be “just like
everybody else.” We’re devout Christians on Sunday, but we curse or
cheat or tell racist jokes the other six and a half days of the week.
We have so institutionalized the Christian faith that church
membership has come to count for conversion. It isn’t just Vito
Corleone of “Godfather” fame who could live as a criminal so long as
he attended Mass and gave gifts to his church.
If one’s faith is anything more than self-delusion, it must inform her
life in all the routine and ordinary events of life. Even at traffic lights.
By Rubel Shelly
14 HEALTHY MAGAZINE