No Excuse

 by Macy Johnson

“The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me –

she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’”

(Genesis 3:12 NIV)

 

It was the summer of 1970. My brother took a long surfing trip with friends and left his 1969 Ford Mustang for me to drive. It wasn’t long before an Escambia County deputy pulled me over. “Your inspection sticker has expired,” he told me. I tried to wiggle out of the citation by explaining that it wasn’t my car. I was sentenced to four weeks of driver’s education classes in the basement of the Baptist Hospital.

 

A few years later I was driving in the Bavarian countryside, listening to music on the radio. Bam! My Volkswagen Beetle was hit while crossing an intersection in the middle of nowhere. I had run the stop sign. “I am an American studying in Austria,” I explained. The officer asked to see all my paperwork, so I handed him everything in the glove compartment. He took one piece of paper and sent me on my way. It was a temporary insurance policy that a border guard had forced me to purchase two days earlier. God’s mercy covered me.

 

I knew the rules of the road. Or did I? It wasn’t my car. I was distracted. No excuses allowed. I was and still am responsible for all my actions.

 

Adam and Eve knew God’s rules. I can only imagine how tempting the forbidden fruit was. They both fell into sin and their feeble excuses fell flat with their heavenly Father. He forgave them and sent them away from the temptation for their own good. I wonder how often they wished to be back in the Garden of Eden.

 

I will accept responsibility for my own actions and thank God for his abundant mercy. I hope you will, too!