Illegal Parking

I am a small town girl. I grew up in Baltic. We never locked our doors, I walked to school, and a four-way flashing light was the closest thing we had to an actual stoplight. So when I moved to Indianapolis I was in a bit of culture shock. My first trip downtown I was incessantly teased by my friends - "What is this, Farmer Ted goes to the big city?" Big buildings! People begging for money! One way streets with multiple lanes! I was a bit overwhelmed.

So the other night when my car got towed and I wound up at an impound lot in the heart of downtown, I could have sworn I was dreaming. Ten o'clock on a Friday night is not the time I want to be on the streets. I was fine, I was with my husband and 4 other people (we had a grand total of three cars towed!!), and yet I was freaking out. The last place I ever pictured myself was downtown Indianapolis, on the other side of a locked gate from my car, watching helplessly as they broke into it to read the VIN number.

We had all decided to meet downtown, left our cars in a place that we thought we'd be fine to park at for a few hours (although we really should have known better -it was an Arby's parking lot and only 2 people had eaten there), and came back to see that they had indeed been towed. So we headed over to the scary impound lot, waited for an hour for someone to get back to get us taken care of, and heard the doomed grand total of what it would cost us to get them out. $182 a piece. Yep. One hundred and eighty-two dollars. For towing my car about 2 blocks and keeping it there for all of 30 minutes before I discovered it was there.

We did not have $182 to get our car out. I mean, we had it, but then we wouldn't have had money for gas or groceries for the next two weeks. There's no backup savings account right now for emergencies such as being stupid and parking where you shouldn't. While Eric and I were silently freaking out, shooting each other, "Now what do we do???!!!" looks, my friend walked up to the counter and told them that he would paying for all three cars.

We parked our car in a place it shouldn't have been. Knowing it was wrong and yet hoping to get away with it. Law enforcement does their job, takes it to where it should be - and the last place we want to be - and we're forced to pay a fine to get it out. Only problem is, we really can't pay for it. Someone else comes in, selflessly makes the sacrifice, and takes the penalty for us.

Do I really need to explain the illustration?

I was so amazed at my friend's sacrifice for us. But it made me think so much of my Savior's sacrifice. Salvation is something I take for granted daily, and yet He still bears the scars for what He did for me. It wasn't money, it was His life. It was taking on all my sin, bearing the weight of all my shame.

And if getting towed helps me reminds me of the amazing gift I've been given, maybe I should park illegally more often.

Emily