The Lord Spoke To Me...In a Tow Truck

You have heard it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy'. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.  
Matthew 5:43-44

Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.
Luke 6:27

..And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.
Luke 6:33

If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?
...And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?
Matthew 5:46,47

-Jesus


Having trouble seeing the video?  click here.

When I first read about this story, I thought surely no business person would be that petty or sink to such a level.  But I guess when someone believes "God spoke to them", that can justify just about anything.

To say the political climate here in the U.S. this year is volatile would be an understatement.  The protests, fights breaking out at rallies, and political parties eating each other alive from within, is at a level that I've never seen in the history of my voting life.

Unfortunately, the conflict doesn't stop with the players in this election season drama.
There are stories of family members and friends who have decided for the sake of the relationship, not to discuss their disagreements over the candidates they support.

And now, this division has apparently seeped into business dealings as well.

The story from several days ago in North Carolina, that's referenced in the video above, I found infuriating.  A young woman was in an accident, her car now undrivable.  So, like any of us would do, she called for a tow truck.  When the driver arrived, he proceeded to hook up her car to his equipment. Well, he did until he noticed the Bernie Sanders bumper stickers on her car.

See, Ken Shupe of Shupee Max Towing, is a self-described conservative Christian and Donald Trump supporter. When he saw the political affiliation of the customer, Cassy McWade, a stranded disabled young woman, he believed that the "Lord came to him" telling him to "get in his truck and leave."

This was for no other reason than her support for Sanders. Shupe believed that he wouldn't receive payment from Cassy because he assumed she was a socialist.

In his defense, he said he'd been "Berned" (his spelling)before by these socialist types and not gotten paid.  Ok, fair enough. If someone has had a number of people with particular political leanings refuse to pay for services, I guess that would explain the fear that it will always happen, therefore, needing to protect themselves.

Though to me, this appears to be just an obvious situation of prejudice.  Pre-judging someone because of their alleged beliefs. Sure I'm not naive enough to think that this wouldn't happen if things were reversed and the tow truck driver were a Hillary or Bernie supporter and the stranded driver had "Make America Great Again" bumper stickers on their vehicle.

Either way, in my humble opinion, it's wrong.  But here's the issue I really want to stress; Ken made a point of stating his Christian faith and that his actions were God-led.  

One of the important aspects about this faith(in It's more evangelical form) is that we are to share it with others throughout our lives so that they may come to know Jesus as well.

We are also encouraged to be a "good witness". That's basically Christianspeak for don't be an ass and expect someone to be all happy dappy doo to hear about the God you serve when you've just refused to do your job and help a customer, (cough, cough) I mean to behave like a decent human being..

Now, I'm not saying that Christians corner the market on being kind, friendly, giving, etc.  We don't, even if "leading someone to Christ" is not the goal in relationships, which in my opinion shouldn't be anyway. Otherwise, it becomes about earning brownie points with God. Few Christians would admit that (not even to themselves) but it's often the case.

My intent is not to judge this driver in a condemning way.  But to say that the Lord told him to leave a young woman stranded due political views and that he's a Christian in the same breath, (I'm going to use a churchy phrase again) hurts his witness as someone who professes to serve a God and Savior of mercy, kindness, and love.

No, I don't expect us to be perfect in all of our personal interactions, or in our business dealings, but to refuse to tow someone due to the political candidate they support?  Really?
Come on now.

The Back of the Bus and the back porch

It's not often that I dwell on the racial prejudice I experienced in my younger years.  But this morning when I logged on and noticed today's Google doodle, a tribute to Rosa Parks, who in an act of civil disobedience, refused to obey an order by a bus driver to give up her seat to a white passenger, thus sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott, I was immediately taken back.

Now I'm too young to have endured the kind of legislated bigotry and segregation that those of my parents' generation did, but for the short time our family lived in a small town outside of Chicago, I did endure regular negative attention and prejudice from other kids. Yes as the cliche' goes, kids are cruel. As if middle school isn't already the worst time of a kids' life, add to that being the only black student one year and only one of 3 another.    

I never let on to my parents what I was going through during those years.  I've always been a bit of an introvert by nature. But I doubt if I was much different from most kids my age at the time.  Maybe you felt comfortable telling your parents anything and everything you felt and experienced when you were growing up. Not me.  I just buried it. All of it. Way. Down. Deep.

So what was it like being one of the very few black kids in our area? Well, I think I may have been a bit angry at God for a while. I started to wonder why I wasn't born a blue-eyed blond white girl with straight hair.  I just knew that things would have been so much easier than what I was going through being black.  And I was quite the curiosity for many of my classmates and the neighbor kids.
Ignorant questions would abound. My hair. My skin. "Do you tan?" "You can tan?" "You can burn?"

Hardly more than a day or two would go by when I wasn't being called a nigger. Funny, now we're so much more p.c. We don't actually say or spell it out in polite company. But back then, it was different, at least for me. I wish more than anything that I had fought back.

I did fight back once.  Some kid called me a nigger one too many times and on the w r o n g day.  A few seconds later, I was picking the flesh of the back of his neck from my fingernails.
He never called me that again.
Am I condoning violence?  No. I was a sad, picked on kid with pent up anger and frustration over the racism I experienced on a regular basis.  I do feel some regret now over what I did to that boy. I'm sure there was a better way to respond.

We moved back to California when I was in my teens, and honestly I couldn't have been happier.
But was my entire time in the Midwest totally miserable and a complete waste?  I would have to say no.

In that small town was where I believe I met God for real.   Our next door neighbors were baptists and like good baptists, they wanted to make sure I heard the "Good News".

During the summer of 1976, they hosted a vacation bible school for their church on their big back porch. So several of us kids in the area attended.

I loved it. The bible stories, the teacher, even the other kids. And I loved learning about Jesus.
So, even though my time in that part of the country was difficult from a racial standpoint, I believe that in terms of my spiritual awakening, it appears I was in the right place at the right time.

So yes, reading about Rosa today is bittersweet for me. But I am so thankful for the strength God gave her to stand up(or sit as the case may be) for what was right.  And I want to also express my thanks to that neighbor of ours from so long ago, whose name I can't even remember now, for extending the kindness they did by inviting this wounded, bullied girl into their home to meet the Savior.