I Need Jesus’ Guts.

In a Frankenstein-ish twist I need Jesus’ guts.

I’ve peeled away the veil on driving in Paraguay. I’ve revealed to you the dirty underbelly of half-asphalt, half-cobblestone streets. The simple truth is traffic is like break dancing in a dumpster full of broken glass and scrap metal. At times, it’s beautiful chaos. Four factors bring this documentary-turned-dystopia to life.

1. There is no examination for a driving license. No book test. No skills test. There are two prerequisites. You must be older than 18 and you must be able to pay the fee.
2. There are no police in cars to pursue. Cops are generally set up at random check points on foot to write tickets that fund the municipality.
3. There is a huge number of first-time drivers. As a developing nation, pockets of the country are becoming financially stable and thus purchasing transportation without any prior experience. See number 1.
4. Prevailing wisdom is that if a space seems big enough for my vehicle then I should put it there. That means splitting the lane to get up front at a traffic light. It means scooting across an intersection with just the faintest sliver of space before on coming traffic T-Bones you.

Our town is doing a ton of construction right now. This past week I had 3 close calls at the same intersection. Drivers who thought they could make it but really couldn’t without my harsh braking. In one instance I watched the driver stop at the stop sign. He looked at me coming for a 3-count then decided to go. It was close enough to be my choice whether to hit him or not. I chose not to.

But, I wanted to.

I wanted to hit the guy. In telling the story to my wife I said,

“My gut reaction was to just hit him and sort it out later.”

For those who don’t know, a gut reaction is like a chain reaction but slightly more gooey and without a chain. Anyway.

There it is. I don’t think I am making good use of Jesus’ guts. I don’t think Jesus’ guts would react like mine did. So have I put on this Christianity like a suit coat? Does it permeate my “heart of hearts”? BTW, if your heart of hearts has a heart attack, will you die? Nevermind.

Gut check time.

What do your guts look like? Are your guts like Jesus’ guts? Should I capitalize “guts” if I am referring to those that belong to Jesus?