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I got a red-light camera ticket this morning. Well, actually it hasn’t come in the mail yet, but I saw the cameras flash, so it probably will. I honestly don’t remember if the light was red or not. I’m kind of hoping I went in on a really late yellow and didn’t actually run it. I had a huge presentation at work today and the entire office has been consumed with it all week. I was at work until 11pm last night preparing for it, and then back to work at 7am this morning. I was so nervous about being late. I was thinking about the other project I have that has today as a deadline and wondering how I was going to get to them both. I was thinking about anything and everything that had to do with today – except the color of the stoplight in front of me. The traffic pattern was as if it were green. Everyone was stopped. I noticed that I could just get through with no one in the intersection – but I didn’t notice if the light had turned red.

I was talking to some girlfriends the other day about Christianity and ethics, and one friend said that she had been stopped a few times in her life, but never received a traffic ticket. She said she was just honest with the officer that stopped her. She admitted her traffic wrongdoing and said she knew she should not have done it, and she apologized. The officers so far had all given her warnings. I’m not suggesting that as a “get out of a ticket” strategy, but it is an honest Christian way of dealing with the situation. The officers in her cases also decided to use a Christian way of dealing with the situation. Grace.

There were two officers on the street during my camera incident. I don’t know if they noticed whether or not I actually ran the light. Neither stopped me because they saw the flash and figured that I had already been caught. The thing is, I kind of wished they had stopped me instead of the cameras. With a person, I could have said how tired I was; I could have explained the nervousness over my big presentation; I could have described the late night and the early morning. Furthermore, a person would have looked up my driving record and realized that I don’t run red lights as a practice. That’s probably only the 3rd time I’ve done it in my life – the first being about 20 years ago when I was alone on the street at 3am and the light wouldn’t change and the second about 3 years ago when I slid through a right-hand turn at the same camera as this morning. I don’t know if the officer would have given me a ticket if I could have spoken to her. She might have. But she also might have given me a warning – given me grace.

Ephesians 2 describes how we are all in sin, we all turn the wrong way, but God has chosen to respond with mercy and to bless us with the richness of eternity with Christ. Psalm 78:38 describes how God even holds back his anger – although he has plenty of reason to be angry with us. The grace that is given to some us in every day life – warnings instead of tickets, forgivenesses for foibles – can only exist because God extended grace to us. Everything good comes from God (James 1:17), and all of the grace we experience is his.

In the end, I’ll pay for the ticket if it comes in the mail and I will definitely drive more carefully in the future. But the cameras are a glimpse of what it is like in a world without God – a world where every infraction, no matter how infrequent, no matter the circumstances, is met with immediate and irrevocable punishment. A world without God. A world without grace.

Every Father’s Day, I reflect on God the Father and his love. But God isn’t actually male. God is spirit and doesn’t have a gender. As I read on a recent message board, one could just as easily say “God the Mother”. Even some newer Bibles use gender-neutral language to describe God. So does it matter if God is referred to as “father?” I think it may.

Both mothers and fathers love their children, but very differently. A mother’s love can be seen as somewhat automatic. The child is literally a part of the mother from conception until birth. The mother gains an understanding of her child in the womb. She changes how she eats based on how the baby responds to different foods. She has to go to doctor appointments in order to check the baby’s progress. During a few months of the pregnancy, she can even “play” with the baby by pressing different spots on her stomach, sometimes eliciting a response. By the time the child is born, a lot of bonding has already occurred between baby and mother, and the love she has for her child is seemingly instant and effortless.

Fathers bond with their children as well, but only if they choose to. A father can walk away from his child at the moment of conception and not look back. A man can be a father and not even know there was a pregnancy at all. Even if he is aware, he can choose to be distant. He is not physically obligated to be at prenatal doctor appointments. He doesn’t have to adjust his diet. He doesn’t carry the child inside of him. He doesn’t give birth. In a way, a father has to choose to form a bond with his children. He chooses to stay. He chooses to love.

In that sense, God is both mother and father. God formed humans with direct involvement, as a mother. However, God chose to reveal himself to us as a father. Not because he wanted us to understand any aspect of maleness, but because he wanted to emphasize that, like a father, he has chosen to love us. He has chosen to claim us. To not deny us. To preserve our relationship at all costs.

Ephesians 1:3-4 tells us that God chose us even before he formed the earth. In I John 4:19 we learn that he loved us before we loved him. That, I believe, is the essence of why God presents himself to us as a father. He wants us to know that we are not just loved, we are chosen.

We all need to read the Bible on a regular basis, but sometimes things get in the way. We put it off or we consider it an “extra” thing that we will do after we get all of the important things under control. The problem with that is, we’ll never get the other things “handled”. Once we knock down one time obstacle, three more pop up to fill it. It becomes a vicious circle. So, how do we get out?

” I know I need to read the Bible, but I just don’t have time.”

Pencil It In!
We have our day-planners with us wherever we go, reminding us of important meetings, when to pick up the kids from practice, and who we need to call when we get home. If you’re having trouble finding time to study the Bible, plan a time for it and put that in your organizer, too! (If you don’t have an organizer, get one! It’s the best $20 you’ll ever spend!) The best thing to do is to create a fixed time to study, such as 7:15-7:45 every morning or evening. It is important to include a time to start and a time to stop. Stick to these times. When the starting time comes, stop whatever you are doing and open your Bible. At the end of your time, close your Bible — even if you feel you didn’t get anything out of it. Once you make Bible reading a priority and keep to your schedule, you will learn to focus in and make every reading time a productive one.

“I’ve tried to read the Bible, but I just don’t understand anything.”

Make a Method
Reading the Bible, as with reading anything else, is easier if you have an idea of what you’re looking for before you start to read. When you go into a bookstore, you read the backs of several books until you find one that tells you what you want to know, then you read that book. The introductions to the books of the Bible work in much the same way. Before you cozy into the section to read, scan the introductions. Create a few questions that you would like to have answered. Then, as you read, take notes. The notes can answer your earlier questions or that can be jotted down quote that speak to your spirit at that particular time. Try to write down the relationship to the quote and the situation in your life that makes it jump out at you. For instance, if you read a section on loving your neighbor, don’t just jot down the section, make notes about the conflict you had with a friend or co-worker and how that section helps you with your situation.

“It’s hard to concentrate on the Bible. My mind keeps wandering to other things.”

Create a Haven
Find a spot in your home or at work where you can read the Bible in peace. That spot can be as simple as pulling a TV tray up to your favorite chair or as elaborate as a home office or study. Block everything out of your mind except the Bible. The dishes can wait, your phone calls can wait, the dog can wait … you get the picture. Unless there happens to be a life-or-death emergency every time you start to read the Bible, the distractions that keep you from reading aren’t as much of a priority as you make them. This method works especially well when you combine it with “pencil it in”. If you have a specific time every day that you devote to Bible study, it is easier for other members of your household to adjust to your schedule.

“There’s so much to read. I don’t know where to start.”

Grow Into It
A good thing to do when you are trying to establish Bible reading habits is to read the shorter books first. The Epistles (found at the end of the New Testament) are relatively short as well as some of the books of the minor prophets (like Nahum). Instead of reading an entire book, you can also read sections at a time, or focus on one parable per study session. If you’re still having trouble, you can find several Bible study guides in the library or at a Christian bookstore.

When you sit in your haven at the appointed time to read or study your Bible, you will read with vigor and experience miracles and revelations — well, not exactly. Sometimes you’ll gain new insights, sometimes you’ll get distracted halfway through. Learning to walk with God is a lot like learning to walk on Earth — you have to crawl first. The point of reading the Bible is not that you do it perfectly every time, but that you stay committed to it no matter what. By reading your Bible, you will gain new insights and you will grow, but only if you stick with it.