I was sitting at one of the outdoor tables of our friendly neighborhood Starbucks this morning, enjoying a tasty cup of joe with some friends when… the air was pierced by the blaring of a nearby car alarm.  Apparently, a lady with a new SUV was not familiar with her security system.

The really funny part came when she just got in the car and started it.  The horn kept blaring.  She backed out of her parking space.  The horn kept blaring.  A guy walked to her window offering a helping hand.  The horn kept blaring.  She shook her head and scowled at him.  The horn kept blaring.  The guy shrugged and walked away.  The horn kept blaring.  She gunned it, and drove out of the parking lot, the horn kept blaring… until it faded off into the distance, alerting any unwary crosswalk users of her imminent approach.

I felt bad for that lady.  What an embarrassment to drive around with your car alarm horn going off.  Lessons in humility aren’t always this obvious, but this one is stark.  As he walked into the Starbucks, the would-be Good Samaritan shrugged and said, “All she had to do was put the key in the door.” But she didn’t want to listen.  A little help from outside herself could have spared her a lot of embarrassment.  But that takes humility.  Surely this is why 1 Peter 5:5 says,

“Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’”

Categories: five15 blog