I Thought They Were a Christian File# 297: What Do You Do Stop at STOP Signs?

by Tad Lindley

In Mexico (at least where we have traveled) they have these red octagonal signs with white trim that look like a stop sign from the United States, but of course they do not say, “STOP”. In Mexico these signs read, “ALTO”. Since I can barely read Spanish, I just assumed that with the same shape and the same color, even the same number of letters that ALTO must mean STOP.

So I pulled up to the ALTO sign and came to a complete stop. I was the only one stopping. Heavy traffic zooming around me from every direction and the cars behind me honking at me. Everyone was approaching the intersection and making a pretense of slowing down and then going full throttle if they thought they could beat the cars doing the same thing from the other direction. So I guess ALTO does not mean STOP. I think it roughly translates, “Take a deep breath and go for it,” kind of like a yield sign in the United States.

What type of driver are you?

It’s possible that you live in a boardwalk village and the closest stop sign is in Bethel. If that’s you, celebrate it. There are not too many places in the USA without an abundance of stop signs. Whether you are on a Honda, or in a car or truck, do you stop at STOP signs? Now when I say stop, I mean, do you come to a complete stop? If you were charged with failure to control your vehicle, would the video evidence show that you actually ceased all forward motion to look both ways and only then pulled out into the intersection? Or are you the kind of driver that looks away from their phone long enough to scan the intersection and if it’s empty, you blast on through?

Four reasons people stop at STOP signs

I’ve been thinking about this all week, “Why do people stop at STOP signs?” I think there are four reasons:

1. Fear: You are afraid of legal interventions such as being pulled over by the law enforcement community and served with a ticket for failure to control your vehicle and that fear keeps you living in subjection to the law.

2. Safety: There is cross traffic, and to not stop at the STOP sign might mean getting killed or killing people in other vehicles. For you, it is cut and dried, if everyone stopped, there would be far fewer crashes.

3. Reputation: If other people are able to see you, you worry that they will downgrade you to the status of hypocrite if they witness you breaking the law. On the other hand, if there are no witnesses, you are quite content to roll on through.

4. Love: You love the State of Alaska so much, and you know that it pleases the State when you follow the laws and municipal codes of the jurisdiction in which you live.

Truth revealed

In the spirit of transparency, I must inform you that when it comes to driving around Bethel, I fall into category three. If someone is driving behind me, I absolutely stop. I wouldn’t want them thinking, “I thought Brother Lindley was a Christian, but now he just rolled through that stop sign. Let me slow down so I can post this on Facebook.” On the other hand, if I can look left, look right, and look left again and there is no opposing traffic and no people around, I make sure that my speedometer has slowed significantly and roll on through.

What if it wasn’t about STOP signs?

If you have read my column much, you know I didn’t come here to talk about STOP signs, I came here to talk about living for God. What if instead of talking about STOP signs, I switched it up and asked, “Why do you follow the teachings of Jesus?” Because there are four reasons that people serve the Lord:

1. Fear: They never miss church, because they are afraid that the pastor will call and want to know why they weren’t there.

2. Safety: You’ve read the Bible and you know that it contains good advice for healthy living, and so you are intellectually bought in.

3. Reputation: You worry about what people will think if they saw you skipping church, or gambling, or going to movies with ungodly themes, or stumbling around intoxicated, so you only do these things when you’re in Anchorage.

4. Love: You love Jesus, and you want to live for Him, even when it is inconvenient. You want to live for Him even when it means tithing, even when it means changing habits, appearances, and behaviors.

Which category does your walk with God fall into? When they asked Jesus which was the most important commandment he said, “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” If you love God, it is a pleasure to serve him, but above and beyond that, it is the greatest commandment of all!

Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, Alaska.

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