I have been learning a lot about life here in the city. I love the sites and sounds of DC. There is so much to see and do here and I love the wide variety of nationalities, personalities and styles of the people here in the city. Transportation here can always be a little, uhm, sanctifying. Every time I get behind the wheel of my car, it is a different adventure. I'm not talking about the traffic necessarily. Of course, the traffic is crazy and I feel like I do more reading than I did in seminary just trying to read the road signs that are posted at every traffic light regarding different rules for different times of day. Yes, this can make driving interesting but it's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the people. In a world of "me first!" DC reigns supreme when it comes to driving, bussing and even walking. People are constantly cutting you off, swerving from lane to lane and honking at the slightest delay. People clamor to get the best seat on the bus or shove themselves on the metro when it is obvious that not everyone will make it on.
These types of behaviors can be annoying but what absolutely drives me insane, what makes me want to stop and shake people is when they refuse to move out of your way on the sidewalk....
I'm currently training for my first full marathon (yes, thank you for your applause.) As you might expect, I'm doing a significant amount of running these days. I try to vary my routes to keep things interesting for me since the runs are so very long. But no matter where I run, no matter where I go, my run always ends up being an obstacle course with people acting as the little orange cones in my route. Everyone who has ever navigated a sidewalk whether walking or running knows that there are rules of etiquette in doing so. You stay on the right side of the sidewalk so that someone who is approaching you has your left side of the sidewalk to travel. It also allows someone who is going the same direction as you, but a little faster, the opportunity to pass you without delay.
But this does not happen in DC. There can be someone walking all by himself in the middle of the sidewalk. He will see you approaching and he will see that you are in need of a portion of the sidewalk yet he/she will stare you down and refuse to move. And this happens with 50% of the people I encounter on my runs. A few weeks ago I literally bruised and scraped my shoulder because a man that I was certain would move just a bit to his right refused to do so. And it's not a cultural thing. These are all types of people from all sorts of places refusing to move. And it makes me CRAZY!
But then I have to be honest with myself. Why does it make me crazy? Why can't I just let it go? And then I realize that it is because I, like those on the street, believe that I am the most important person on that sidewalk. I am no different. I am just as selfish. And this is my sin. Philippians 2:3-4 says, " Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." I know from Scripture that I am to conform myself to the image of Christ. Christ humbled himself by coming to this earth as a man so that he could save me from my sins. Philippians 2:6 says this of Jesus, "who although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped." We know that Jesus did this so that he could become the sinless sacrifice required to free us from sin and reconcile us to God. As John Stott puts it, Jesus became a slave so that he could free us from our slavery. So when I get indignant because others don't give me the sidewalk that I think I deserve, I have a serious heart problem. I think I am entitled. I forget that I am a sinner saved by the grace of Christ. I forget the slavery that he freed me from. And I disobey his command to consider others better than myself. I forget the example of humility He has set before me. My sin is my pride.
So now I am learning to see my daily runs as an opportunity to exercise humility. No pun intended. It is a time for me to constantly remind myself that these people are better than me. That I deserve eternal separation from God just like them and that we all need Christ. If I truly want to display the love of Christ to others, I have to seek to do it even when I think no one will notice and yes, that includes voluntarily and humbly stepping off the sidewalk when I get in other people's way. Ugh. This is going to be a process...
