Mistreated

I grew up in the days when most mothers stayed to home and raised the children.  My mother was no exception.  We only had one car and dad took it to work every day.  My mother didn’t drive.  But in 1960, my mother got her learner’s permit.  Us boys were excited for mom to drive.  Mom was terrified.  Dad gave her every opportunity to drive that he could.  Our family was coming back from our yearly pilgrimage to West Virginia.  It was morning and we had left the curvy roads of West Virginia behind for the gentle rolling hills of U.S. 11 through the Shenandoah valley in Virginia.  Dad had convinced mom to drive a little.  She was nervous but doing fine when a Virginia state trooper came up behind us.  My younger brother, Phillip noticed the trooper first and announced his presence.  Since this was in the days was before seat belts, all four of us boys were soon on our knees in the back seat watching the trooper and giving mom and dad a play by play of his every move.  The trooper mistook our excitement for suspicion and pulled mom over.  She was trembling so much that she could barely get her license out of her wallet.  After the patrolman determined that everything was in order, he handed my mom back her license.  Now it was my dad’s turn.  Dad grumbled, “You harassed my wife for no reason!”  The trooper mumbled, “Well with the boys looking suspicious, I thought I had a live one.”  Dad said, “Oh, come on!” but the trooper was gone.  My mom refused to drive the rest of the way home.  But she did pass her driver’s test two months later and drove for the next 56 years.  Hey, have you ever been accused of something that you didn’t do?  Have you ever been under suspicion for no reason?  Have folk mistreated you?  Jesus predicted it would be that way for His followers!  Jesus said in John 15:20, “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you …”  Hey, if you are mistreated for being a Christian, don’t be surprised; be proud.  You are in good company: Jesus Christ was mistreated too!