Stop Light Stare Down

Three people were glaring at me again. I hate it when that happens. I was at the four way stop in the center of town in Molalla. As usual, I was daydreaming, not paying attention, and so we play the guessing game. Whose turn it is to go?
Let me make one thing clear. I actually enjoy traffic lights. Stop lights are like mini rest areas without the bathrooms. When a light is red, I get about 34 seconds to relax from the frustrations of driving and do stuff. I have plenty of time to adjust the radio, take a bite of my cheeseburger, or drink a sip of coffee. I can check my cell phone, or start working on my sermon. Actually at a regular stop light, I can do all the things I’m NOT supposed to do while driving. I can do them with a clear conscience.
But a four-way stop is a different story. They require me to actually pay attention. But I’ve found that even alert drivers get traffic amnesia. I just can’t remember the right of way laws. Thus, most of us revert back to those great lessons mom taught us.
1. Take turns, so the first car there is the first one to go.
2. Be nice and let others go first.

If that doesn’t work, we usually resort to hand signals or facials expressions, both of which are hard to read when you are 20 feet away and staring through a windshield. I’ve noticed a common hand signal that most people use. If someone has their hand out and their wrist and fingers are waving toward them, it means,

“Okay, bonehead, go on.” or (the more polite, Christian version)
“I’m in a good mood go ahead.”
This works well unless you are doing the same signal to them. You end up waving to each other and no one is moving.

At that point, I think it would be much simpler each of us four drivers would put our cars in park, get out, walk to the middle of the intersection, and have a friendly meeting. We might come to the following decision,,,

The guy in the semi truck is bigger than all of us, so he can go first.
The lady in the blue bronco has cranky kids in the back so she can go second.
The guy in the green P.T. Cruiser has had a long day and needs get home. He goes third.
The preacher hasn’t been paying attention so he gets to go last, and signs a written contact pay closer attention to the intersection.

Alas, we usually just sit in our cars and try to read each other’s minds.

In the Bible, I doubt the apostle Peter had to deal with four way chariot stops, but he did warn us to be alert about something far more dangerous than other drivers 1 Peter 4:8 says to “be self controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to desire.”

Fortunately, at four ways stops, most people are more alert than I am. They watch the other drivers and work in automotive unity. As Christians, we should take a lesson from four ways stops. Be alert, watchful, and careful. Satan wants to do more harm to us than simple traffic issues.

So, if you see me at a four way stop, be nice to me, I’ll be the one daydreaming…