Toll Plazas

Have you ever approached a toll plaza with long lines of cars at some toll booths when there are other booths that are open but either have no cars or only a car or two in their lanes? I see this often – it used to surprise me, it doesn’t anymore. It is an example of the way we live – we follow the line of cars and assume the other options aren’t good options.

The toll booth of life that most people line up at isn’t one that leads to life – yet people keep pulling in line.

I was talking to a coworker about a pretty nasty and pornographic book that is popular these days, she has a copy and is going to read it – others I know are reading it. I asked her, “Why read something that you’ve told me is nasty? Why do people do that?”

She responded, “That’s a good question.”

I don’t know if she’ll pull out of the line at the toll plaza that she’s in, but maybe she’ll think about it and direct her car elsewhere.

I ponder the hate-filled rhetoric displayed by professing Christians toward those with whom they disagree – and I wonder why they are in line at that toll booth. That is not the toll booth of Jesus Christ, that is not a way that He goes. I think about the energy that is consumed while driving through the toll booth of vitriol and disrespect – why? It is because there is a long line at that toll booth and we go with the momentum. The speed at which people arrive at the toll plaza is such that the natural inclination is to go with the flow – no matter where the flow leads.

We cannot love and hate at the same time, we cannot be reverent to God and irreverent to others at the same time. We only have so much energy to expend each day, only so many thoughts, only so many words, only so many actions – we deceive ourselves if we think we can engage in hate and vitriol with impunity, without it soiling our minds and hearts, without it soiling our souls. This is not rocket science, this is just common sense – it is also Biblical.

If I have a glass of pure spring water and I put dirt into it I then have impure water. If I have a glass of impure water and put pure spring water into it I still have impure water.

The difference between a natural toll plaza and the toll plaza of life is that in a natural toll plaza no matter which toll booth you choose you’ll come out at the same place; in the toll plaza of life that is not the case – the choices we make determine our destinies – not all toll booths lead to the same place.