I didn’t expect drama in the parking lot. Three spots were open in a row, so I pulled in the center one. I remained in the car for a few minutes, checking messages on my phone. When an SUV parked to my left, I glanced up briefly and continued reading.
Then, wham! I jolted at the impact of metal slamming into metal. My head spun left to see the heavy SUV door resting against the mirror of my Volkswagen. I glared through the window at a woman in the passenger seat. Her mouth formed an “O,” and she slapped her hand over it. She yanked her door back a notch and climbed out. I got out too.
“Oh! I am so sorry!” the woman exclaimed. “I didn’t know anyone was in there.”
“Well, that’s not really the point, is it?” I asked. “I don’t want my car banged up.”
“Oh, no, no, no. Your car isn’t hurt at all,” she said.
Fortunately, I was slow to speak that day, only thinking of “things I should have said” later. I gave the woman grace, just as Jesus has done for me on many occasions. She never admitted wrongdoing or showed any remorse, but she gifted me with a life lesson of great value: “Integrity is doing the right thing when you don’t have to— when no one else is looking or will ever know” (Charles Marshall).
The big scratch on my little car reinforces that truth—and Jesus’s grace—each time I take a drive.
—Becky Alexander
