Mutiny

My wife and I were walking down our street at around 11pm when we were confronted by dozens of choices crammed into mere seconds. After crossing a street, a driver pulled up to the stop sign behind us. He yelled “That looks like the * * I’m looking for!” After he began driving down the street parallel with us we decided to turn around and head back towards our home…and so did he. He proceeded to pull back onto the cross-street that we were nearing and stepped from his beat up Cutlass Supreme.
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“You little *, what did you do with my gas cap?!”
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“I don’t know you, I’ve never seen your car, man, and I don’t have your gas cap.” I replied in fear. By this point adrenaline had begun to energize my tired heart and body. In front of me stood a 6’ 4” tall, 300 lb. man who was obviously not entirely sober from whatever illegal substance he was addicted to.
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“You took my gas cap, and then you’re all walkin’ around like nothing.” This unman’s concluding sentences were filled with many *s. And he moved toward me pushing my body backwards with his arms. What should I have done? What is right for a Christian, one who is representing the Creator, the great I Am, the Man who died on the cross because of His persistent love for His mutinous creation, to do in this situation? I would say sacrifice; protect what he loves, but love, beyond his capability, the man who desires to harm him.
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Is this the choice I made? No. I, too, was in the midst of a mutiny – Christ the lover of my soul had been pushed overboard by my will – I had taken my ship weeks ago and sailed into the sea of depression and unrighteousness. And now, one of my ship mates meets me on the lonely street where the only warm heart is that of my wife. He pushes me and love engages in a war of terror as my wife, less than half the mass of the attacker, attacks him with a push of her hand. Her had pushes on his arm and he stares blankly at us and at what had just happened.
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“Help!” my wife screams with surreal strength. No one stirs in the houses lining the streets. But this man, self-absorbed, evil, and mutinous backs up. What do we see in his eyes? Fear of capture, maybe, or pain – yes that is it, he is hurt by innocence and love. He attacked one innocent couple with hatred and anger, and the man he pushed, me, was just as self-absorbed, evil, and mutinous as he, but then he saw a Christian woman – a woman who lives for Christ in word and deed. He was disabled, and so was I. Both he and I were the same, men who did not, for a time, want God’s love or leadership at the cost of missing our own selfish wills.
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The man gets in his car and softly pulls away. I surrender my cold heart and thank God for protecting us – and for giving me a woman who loves Christ more than she loves me.