Mercy 
By Mike Rule

When I was 18, I had a pizza delivery job while I lived in Indianapolis, Indiana, to attend tech school. Late one Saturday night I was the last driver on duty and behind schedule, with three deliveries yet to make. The pizza shop closed at 2:00 AM, but I was still on the road at 2:30, hurriedly trying to finish my run so I could go home.

I did not pay much attention to my speed because there was very little traffic on the streets at that hour. I whipped down one street, flew around a corner and pulled into an apartment complex to make a delivery. I ripped out of that apartment complex to head for another one about two miles away. As I neared the complex I took a short cut down a side street by making a sharp left turn, traveled one city block to the end of that street, then made a sharp right turn and traveled another city block to a traffic light. Because the light was red, I had to wait for it to change before I could proceed.

As I waited I glanced in my rear view mirror and noticed a police car sliding around the corner where I had just been. It was in FULL array with lights and sirens engaged to the fullest. This captivated my attention; I watched for a moment before looking ahead to check the traffic light, and noticed two more police cars coming at me. I spotted two more coming from my left, and looked right only to see four additional police cars coming from that direction. I could not believe what I was seeing! There were nine police cars converging on the intersection where I was sitting! When the light turned green, I didn’t even bother to pull across the intersection but quickly pulled to the roadside while wondering what was happening.

All nine cars surrounded my little orange Ford. Blinded by spotlights, I was immediately commanded to get out of the car and place my hands on the roof. I was scared out of my mind to say the least. I could not imagine what I had done. As I slowly and carefully got out of the car, still more police cars came screaming up to the scene. By now I was totally bewildered. The officer from the car behind me came up with revolver drawn and searched me for a weapon, then he told me I could turn around to answer some questions. I was glad that he put his gun away, but I knew several others were watching me like hawks. In a rough voice the officer asked me what I was doing out that late. I quickly explained that I was delivering pizzas, hence my company jacket and hat. When he asked if I could prove my story, I told him about the delivery box that was sitting in the passenger seat of my car. He carefully looked into the car with his flash light and breathed a sigh of relief, almost chuckled, and hollered to the other officers, "Okay boys, false alarm. It’s another one of those **** pizza delivery guys."

He then asked me, "Boy, do you have any idea how fast you were going?" I guessed about 10 miles per hour over the speed limit and could not imagine why they were all so excited. He said, "Boy, I have been chasing you for 15 minutes, and I clocked you going 85 miles per hour in a 35 mile per hour zone."

Right then I knew he had clocked my speed with his radar before my last delivery. Apparently he had been traveling down a side street when I sped by. By the time he got out of the side street and on to the street I was on, I had turned a corner, and then another into the apartment complex where I made my delivery. He gave up the chase after a few minutes, but as he returned to the area where he had first seen me, I blew back on to the main street. I was moving along at a good clip, and my little car was spunky and could really hug the corners. He could not catch up to me in his big police cruiser and I was losing him around the corners. He got a good enough look at my car the second time to realize that it matched the description of a vehicle used in a robbery the previous day. When he saw the way I was driving he thought he had found the thief. One radio call was all it took for half the police department of Speedway, Indiana, to converge on the spot where he figured he could catch me. However, he was amazed to see me stopped at a red light when there was NO traffic on the road. It didn’t add up in his mind, and once we sorted it all out I was tremendously relieved.

I was still in big trouble for violating the speed limit by 50 miles per hour. As he checked my vehicle for possible wants and warrants, and verified my insurance, I stood there waiting and scared to death that they would haul me to jail for my driving. All but one of the other police cars had left, but others came by to check on the situation. By this time the officer in charge was in a much better mood, laughing and joking with the other officers about pizza delivery guys. Finally, he turned to me and began his lecture. He told me in no uncertain terms that he ought to haul me to jail on the spot, and that he could hang me higher than a kite for what I had done. I received a good tongue lashing, but he surprised me when he said he wanted to encourage out-of-state students. Then he said "Boy, if I even see you sneeze in traffic I am going to pull you over and write you a ticket for everything I can think of." He wrote a note on the back of my license stating that he had given me a verbal warning on that date, and added in a very stern and gruff tone, "I’m not giving you a ticket this time but I am giving you a warning just this one time. Slow down, Boy." As he walked away he laughed and made one final comment as he shook his head: "That little car of yours sure can run. Boy, I couldn’t catch you for anything. Take it easy, and slow down."

I sat in my car completely dumbfounded. I couldn’t believe it! I didn’t even get a traffic citation -- nothing but a good lecture and a warning. As I SLOWLY and CAREFULLY pulled away from the intersection to make my final delivery (which was 30 minutes late by now), I laughed in amazement. In fact, I was so thankful that I gave my last customer his order free of charge.

Mercy is deserving the absolute worst, but being pardoned at the moment of reckoning. I deserve hell for my sin, but in His mercy, God revoked my sentence and pardoned me from getting what I deserve. Praise God for His character. He is rich in mercy and abounding in Love. (Exodus 34:5-7)