I saved a dog's life this morning!
It was rush hour, and I was driving down a busy street, two lanes going both directions plus a turn lane in the middle. I was approaching what may well be the busiest intersection in our small town at that time of day (the intersection is within a mile of four schools that between them cover all grades from preschool through high school, and it was getting close to time for school to start), and there he was... a medium-sized brown dog, the kind that chases chickens around on a farm or Frisbees around in a dog park. I was in the left lane, and when I spotted him he was walking across right to left - which meant he had two lanes of traffic to cross, and if he didn't get across pretty quickly the light in front of me was going to change and he was going to have dozens of cars bearing down on him. I spotted him in plenty of time to miss him, but there was already one car coming the other way... in the lane the dog was about to walk across! What could I do to help him?
Only one thing. I hit my brakes and leaned on my horn. I didn't just give it a little "beep beep" - I made one long blast that lasted until Mr. Dog was completely out of the street. I could tell it startled him, which was exactly my intention. I wanted him out of the street, and I wanted him to think twice before ever crossing that street again. It also alerted the other driver that something was going on, and he avoided the dog by a wide margin too.
I imagine Mr. Dog was pretty scared by my horn... probably more scared than by my car. He may have thought someone or something was trying to hurt him. But that wasn't the case... in fact, my car and the other cars on the road were far more dangerouns to him than my horn was. My horn was scary, but the purpose of the horn was to save him from something that could potentially hurt or kill him. I wasn't being mean to Mr. Dog; I was showing him compassion and love by making a big scary noise so he would get out of danger.
Sometimes people read the Bible and find places where God said to His people things like "Follow the rules I'm giving you, or else this bad thing will happen to you," and we read that and perceive it as a threat. But if you read more and more of the Bible, you'll discover that God is the God of Love, not attack and retribution. When God says "do X or else Y will happen to you," He's not saying that He will punish you for your sins - He is saying that if you cling to your sins, something bad is going to happen to you because sin is destined for destruction. If you hang out in the street during rush hour, you're going to get flattened by a minivan. God is leaning on His horn, trying to get you to run from sin so you run from the consequences of that sin. If God blows a horn for you today, pay attention! It may save you from getting hurt like my horn saved that dog this morning.
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