Monday night I headed to San Antonio with my good friend Chris Allman and Beau Heitmiller for WWE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Monday Night Raw at the SBC Center.
\nAnd say what you want about wrestling, because we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care. We had a great time watching some of our wrestling favorites battle it out for glory and fame.
\n(On a side note for the Heitmillers, in case you were unaware \u00e2\u20ac\u201c don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever give Beau caffeine after 10 p.m. He went nuts on the way home. And if he kept you awake after he made it home, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t blame me \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Chris bought the soda for him.)
\nAnyways, after the show we headed to the car to begin our trip home and Chris made a great observation, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it funny how traffic brings out who you really are?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nYou really show how greedy, selfish or generous you are on your way out of a traffic or parking lot jam.
\nWe laughed as we watched people squeeze and push their way into the front of the line.
\nIt reminded me of numerous times I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve sat in parking lots watching people jockey for the front of the line almost as aggressive as the wrestlers we had watched earlier in the evening.
\nOf course my favorite cars to watch are those leaving Christian conferences and events.
\nYou sometimes have to wonder if they attended the same event as you did.
\nI remember waiting almost four hours to get out of a parking lot at Southfork Ranch one year.
\nIt was a ridiculous wait, but what I thought was more ridiculous is how rude some people would be just to get a few cars in front of others.
\nIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just another reminder than no one — including Christians — are perfect.
\nI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been studying the Apostle Peter lately and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve enjoyed comparing him to myself.
\nWhen Peter was first introduced to Jesus by his brother Andrew, Jesus told him, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Which when translated is Peter, or The Rock.
\nI wonder what Jesus was thinking when He named Peter The Rock.
\nAs you follow Peter through the Gospels, you see that he was anything but a rock.
\nHe was impulsive, he was unreliable and he even denied knowing Christ three times in the temple courtyard.
\nSounds like me and maybe some of those other drivers scrambling for position.
\nImpulsive, unreliable and its so easy to deny Christ if the storms begin to come.
\nBut Peter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life shows a remarkable transformation.
\nFrom the impulsive disciple comes one of great leaders of the early church.
\nChrist told Peter, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I tell you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nAfter his denial of Christ (John 18:15-18 and 25-27), he became the bold leader on the day of Pentecost, testifying to the miraculous things the people had borne witness to, leading to over 3,000 conversions that day (Acts 2).
\nPeter also became the bold man before the Sanhedrin which was ready to condemn him and John for their witness and testimony (Acts 4:1-22).
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Peter said.
\nWhen the Sanhedrin saw the courage of Peter and John and realized they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and took note that these men had been with Jesus.
\nWhat a change.
\nWhat a rock.
\nWhat an example.
\nSo while I can laugh and become bothered by those aggressive, impulsive drivers in the parking lot I need to realize that like Peter too, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been in just as impulsive and selfish.
\nI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve wanted to get home just as badly as they have and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve butted my way into a line — or two — or three times.
\nAnd I might never be called The Rock, but I need Christ\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s transforming power in my life just as badly as Peter did \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and just as badly as the drivers in that parking lot do \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and just as badly as you do.
\nOh — and before I close, big props to the guy in the white car who let us cut in line Monday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Monday night I headed to San Antonio with my good friend Chris Allman and Beau Heitmiller for WWE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Monday Night Raw at the SBC Center. And say what you want about wrestling, because we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care. We had a great time watching some of our wrestling favorites battle it out for glory and fame. (On … Continue reading Lessons from a Parking Lot<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2090],"tags":[2088,2089,2092],"class_list":["post-45","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns-reflections","tag-belton-journal","tag-columns","tag-newspaper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pEnSo-J","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}