POLICE- Follow this van

POLICE    FOLLOW THIS VAN

   

Ever seen this before? I queued behind one such van earlier this week and had time to consider the implications of the sign.


What actually does it mean? Is it warning us that police do follow this van? Or is it warning all police to follow this van? Hmmmm.


Is it the result of a brainstorming session at Villains and Crooks HQ? You can picture the scene: hundreds of minor robbers and fraudsters, a few men in dark suits, a scattering of bankers, one or two men with tattoos and huge heads- all sitting around a large boardroom table. At the head of the room, seated upon a red leather button-back chair, stroking a cat, is a bald man in a grey overcoat.


"Last year, our success rate doubled. The government's austerity measures are leading to a reduction in city-policing. It is getting too easy. Gone are the days of excitement and fun. Now any greedy citizen can commit a crime. How about we give the police a helping hand? Something to start them off on the right trail? Put the danger back into crime!"


"Got it! We label all our vehicles with big black stickers saying 'POLICE follow us!'"


"Good idea, Dr Z."


Okay. Maybe not. But as another blogger has observed, if we follow these signs to the letter then imagine the chaos. Huge queues of panda cars and police motorcycles, all following a white citroen van, leaving no police left to stop the real crimes taking place on the other side of town!

It must be fairly daunting driving a van which obviously is used for transporting money. You must see shadows everywhere! Every postbox is really a mugger in disguise waiting to attack you. Every suited man reading a newspaper is actually a 'scout' trying to plan when and where to take you down! I suppose if I was a securior driver then I would want a "POLICE-HELP!" sign too! Some vans are even fitted with talking alarms, ever heard this one:

Help! Help! This van is being robbed! Please call the police! Help! Help!

Amusingly (or maybe not) most people's reaction to such an alarm is to walk by with a bemused expression and to do nothing at all!

As a Christian it is a daunting thing to be labelled as a follower of Jesus Christ. In a similar way to a security van attracting hordes of scheming villains, a Christian seems to attract mobs of bullies, waves of persecution, tornadoes of insults and just simple grief.

Jesus told us that our purpose as Christians is to witness. He used the imagery of a city, or a lamp:

The mountain city of Montalcino in Tuscany.

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.







Thats a whole lot of pressure! And by ourselves, we would fail in doing this every single time. Casting Crowns puts in well in one of their songs:

So maybe this time 

I'll speak the words of life

With Your fire in my eyes

But that old familiar fear 

is tearin' at my words

What am I so afraid of?

'Cause here I go again

Talkin' 'bout the rain

And mullin' over things 

that won't live past today

And as I dance around the truth

Time is not his friend

This might be my last chance 

to tell him that You love Him 

But thankfully we aren't doing this on our own.

Back to our Securior van driver for a moment: he feels safe knowing that he is being followed by police- those with the power and authority to apprehend the criminals and to protect himself and his precious cargo.

 Likewise, we don't walk alone but we walk with Jesus Christ, who has filled us with the Holy Spirit. The writer of Hebrews says:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

With the Lord's guidance and protection we can step into the world and be labelled as Christians, certain that nothing can separate us from his love and confident that the good news of Jesus will transform lives and shatter strongholds! This is a lot easier said than done, and I don't claim to be an expert, but God truly has given us some great promises:

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?....                          

 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?..... 

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.