Thank God for Parking Ticket Officers

Who said that they are always out there to get you?

I had sleepily missed the 2P sign of a prime parking spot at Crows Nest tonight. Sleepy is what working nights do to people. Lo and behold, after our quick dine at Thai Tucker Box and browse at the bookstore, a parking ticket officer working OT was taking down my little, innocent Echo's number plate!

I sheepily said, "Oh, we're leaving now... and I didn't realise we had to pay after 6pm..."

A pause.

He nicely smiles back and said, "OK, this is a warning. See that ticket machine over there, you must pay if you park here." And he walks away. If we had stayed in that bookstore one minute longer, $79 would have been blown, and all because I didn't 3rd of 4 signs on the pole, that read,

"2P 6-10pm Mon-Sun".

I am reminded that our brains choose to see what we want to see, often times. I only saw the sign that read "1P 6am-6pm Mon-Sun". In hind-sight I did see the second sign when I parked the car, but I could not register it. In so many circumstances, in experience, and in reading people's writings, I observe that often we only see what we set out to see, what we want to hear.

Not always do our "ears itch to hear what our hearts desire", even in so called scientific observations, in application of world-views on other cultures, we only see what we set out to see. We simply love our types and stereotypes.

But I heed the warnings. Both from my friendly parking ticket officer from the Pacific Islands, and from our God, in the coming of His Son and of course, in His Word today: to know that the heart of man deceives even himself, and we need an External Guide to point out our obvious blunders.

I'm just thrilled that I wasn't fined! So is me missus : )