Rules. The World, Our Culture, Our Families... ...

Rules. The world, our culture, our families... all have rules. Without rules, our world would be in anarchy, chaos. Some rules are called laws. We have civil laws and criminal laws. Break a civil law and it can cost you a lot of money or other material wealth. Break a criminal law, and you could find yourself in jail.

On the side of the highway waiting to catch speeding drivers, a State Trooper sees a car puttering along at 22 m.p.h. He thinks to himself, "This driver is just as dangerous as a speeder!" So he turns on his lights and pulls the driver over.

Approaching the car, he notices that there are five old ladies -- two in the front seat and three in the back, wide eyed and white as ghosts. The driver, obviously confused, says to him, "Officer, I don’t understand, I was doing exactly the speed limit! What seems to be the problem?"

"Ma’am," the officer replies, "you weren’t speeding, but you should know that driving much slower than the speed limit can also be a danger to other drivers."

"Slower than the speed limit? No sir, I was doing the speed limit, exactly twenty-two miles an hour!" the old woman says a bit proudly.

The State Trooper, trying to contain a chuckle explains to her that 22 was the route number, not the speed limit.

A bit embarrassed, the woman grinned and thanked the officer for pointing out her error. "But before I let you go, Ma’am, I have to ask... Is everyone in this car OK? These women seem awfully shaken and they haven’t muttered a single peep this whole time," the officer asks.

"Oh, they’ll be all right in a minute, officer. We just got off Route 119."

(from a sermon by Carl Greene, "Three Simple Rules" SermonCentral.com, 7/4/08)