Road Rage

Okay, so pretty much its a given that everyone has experienced at some time a form of road rage. I can honestly tell you that it has been a long, long time since I truly got caught up in it but I can remember those times when it came to the surface. It's this raging, bubbling, boiling point that we come to and what we do with it is up to us. I told you before that we get mad because we chose to get mad, not because someone made us that way. WEll, road rage is the same way.
What causes road rage? What is the leading cause, well one of the main causes is pride. It's our inability to put ourselves in the other person's shoes. We think we are the only one on the road in a hurry to get to where we are going. We think that the rush and the hurry on our part is the only emergency going on at that time, we don't think of others.
James 1:20-21 "for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you."
I can remember a time when I was driving with another person in the car with me. She was simply riding, we had stopped with the family to get shaved ice at the Surf Station and everything was good. I was driving my truck and Tara was driving her vehicle. We were coming up to the Bridge of Lions and the part of the road where 2 lane become 1 lane and there was a guy in a little import(a rice burner with the load exhaust and all) with his music blaring and his engine revving. He decided to turn right and race down the side roads to the entrance to the bridge. Apparently the bridge had recently been up so traffic was backed up and the import would have been about 3 cars behind us and now because of racing down the side road he was going to be the one sitting there when I got to the foot of the bridge. Everyone was letting cars in and it was going smoothly I thought. But, my passenger couldn't handle it, "No Jeff! Don't let that guy in, he just raced down the side road to beat us here! I hate when people do that!" Keep in mind with me that we are in absolutely no hurry to get anywhere. And now, because of this guy's tactical driving we are going to be a whole 15-30 seconds later to get to no where. I'm sure you can see the inconvenience he was causing.
Do you see how silly road rage is? Mabye he is running late to work, or school or somewhere else. I wasn't going anywhere if he needed to get there, go ahead and get there. No skin off my back. But we do, we get all worked up. Why? Why do we let things get us all worked up, why do we chose to get raged up while behind the wheel?
I don't have all the answers to this but I can tell you that the beginning of verse 21 is the answer for me. I used to listen to music that I probably shouldn't listen to. It wasn't anything that would cause a red flag to come up, or anything that was really bad. But it was music that didn't have any meaning to it. Sometimes it did talk about fighting, anger or aggression. But it did not lift me up, or put me in a position to be able to worship God. Now, don't get me wrong I don't ride around listening to worship music, but I do listen to Christian Music. I feel like since about 10 years ago when I started listening to Christian music 90% of the time I have seen a change in my driving and my attitude. Because my mind is on God and His things and His will for me and not defending my territory on the road.
So try it out, listen to Christian music on your commute and see that GOd will give you a peaceful ride.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!