Speed Bumps

I was driving my children to school and noticed how high the speed bumps were-as I drove onto the drop-off area. They were high enough to let you know how hard of a bump you get when you go over 5 miles per hour. This reminded me of the time when I was pregnant and near due date, I had to drop them off at school because they missed the bus-boy, did I ever feel that one! I held on to my belly-fearing for the life of this little one. As I drove back, I thought about how I didn’t like the speed bumps, and would do whatever it took to keep myself from driving there again. Then God gave me an insightful thought: sometimes I don’t like the speed bumps in my life either, but they all happened to bring a positive benefit for me and for those who watched me go through them.

I hate to admit that the speed bumps were there for the children’s safety more than anything. If my child was walking along that road and a car was driving by 35-40 miles per hour, who knows what could have happened. Also, it keeps the cars from bumping into one another. The speed bumps were there for our own good. But, I still didn’t want to drive over them, knowing that I dread every bump. Yes, I did say every bump. I couldn’t wait to get out of that section of the road.

Just as speed bumps are there to slow us down so we would not bump into the people ahead or hit children who walked alongside, our speed bumps in life are there for a reason. Sadly, unlike speed bumps on school grounds, our life speed bumps rarely share common grounds or benefits. However the benefit of them always mean positive. Whew!

A man in the Bible was going through one of his speed bumps. The disciples noticed his speed bump was that he was blind from birth. They questioned Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2)

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life” (John 9:3).

Like us, the disciples immediately find someone to place the cause for the man’s speed bump-blindness. I suppose they want to understand why it was such a high one and who is to be blamed. But, Jesus clearly stated that he blind so that God’s work may be displayed in his life.

What speed bump(s) are you going through right now? How high? Do you think that God is using you to display His work? Or do you think you’ve done something wrong and God is punishing you for your sin?