sleeping policemen

Have you noticed that new things tend to proliferate?

There's one of something, then another, then three more, then an invasion of innovation.

For example, for those of a dinosaur age, there was McDonald's, the first in California, then in select cities, then seemingly everywhere, coast to coast, with thousands/millions/billions and now countless served.  Or there were the video stores, the first in California, then franchised nationwide in companies like Blockbuster, such that all of us were learning to "be kind and rewind."  Or how about storage places, starting with Florida; or nail salons, originating in NYC in 1878; or, more recently, cannabis stores, opening first in Massachusetts?

Currently, I'm fascinated by the explosion of what used to be called "sleeping policemen" in Great Britain, or, in our crude vernacular, "speed bumps" or, worse yet, "speed humps."  They're everywhere, destroying suspensions and creating havoc for those who plow or repair our roads. 

They're intended to address our collective addiction to speed: we drive too fast.  My city recently decreed a 25mph speed limit city-wide: good luck with that, and with the bumps/humps/policemen that have been deployed seemingly overnight.  As with all laws intended to alter our behavior, they will fail.  Sure, we'll slow down to 25 or less to navigate them, but then step on it to make up for lost time.  Laws and legal devices like this - which are expanding their reach - can only, as St. Paul says in Romans 3 and 4, bring us the knowledge of sin (as the undercarriage of our car is ripped open), showing us our transgression (as we get ticketed for going 29).  And perhaps they can show us the self-centered creatures that we really are.

But for real change, change of the heart, mind, and will, that's where Jesus comes in, and The Holy Spirit Whom He sends, not only to convince the world of its error in sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8), but also to lead us and all to a life-transforming faith in Him.  So the next time you get bumped, humped, or run over a policeman, pray for God to pour out His Spirit on all flesh, including yours and mine.