"So, Poppa, when did you

decide to break the law today?" That was the question posed by my

5-year-old grandson, Tristan.

Grudgingly, I snapped the seat

belt into the locked position and put the van in gear. Tristan smiled

smugly, fully aware that his comment had prompted me into compliance.

It wasn't the first time that I've needed a reminder to obey the law.

Several years ago, I received

word that a family member of a police officer had been seriously injured

in an accident. As I sped along the highway toward the hospital several

miles away, I calculated that, at 11:30 p.m., it was probably safe to

gun the gas for all I could get. After all, I was serving as a law enforcement

chaplain and was familiar with the officer's schedules and procedures.

At that hour of the evening,

most of the police officers and deputies who were preparing to work the

morning watch would, I reasoned, be in roll call. Those on the outgoing

shift would be headed toward the boundaries of their assigned zones so

that they could call in, check out, and be a little closer to home when

the shift ended. At least, that's what I thought.

Zipping down Ga. Highway 54

between Peachtree City and Fayetteville, I had the car up to about 80

miles an hour when, all of a sudden, the bright, blinking blue lights

flashed on behind me.

"Now who the heck is that?"

I shouted out loud. I assumed that I had been snared by the Georgia Highway

Patrol, whose schedules and procedures I did not know. I was, of course,

wrong.

A lone deputy, working an odd

shift so that he could attend university classes, had trained his radar

on my speeding vehicle and had nailed me.

As he approached the car, he

shone his mag light in my face, recognized me, and said, "Well, Chaplain!

Out breaking a few of the commandments tonight are we?"

Chagrined, but ever mindful

of the emergency situation at the hospital, I replied, "You've either

got to give me a ticket in a hurry or cut me loose because I have to be

at the hospital ASAP!"

Chortling to himself, he responded,

"No, sir, I'm not going to give you a ticket. You're free to go but

slow down and hey!- don't be breaking any of those 'Big 10' commandments

tonight!"

It wasn't too long after that,

as I was driving through south Alabama on a Sunday afternoon, that I was

pulled over by a local sheriff's deputy. Once again, I was going too fast.

I stepped out of the car and

reached for my driver's license as the deputy glared disapprovingly. As

I was retrieving my license, the officer caught a glimpse of my badge

in the wallet and reached for it.

"What is this?" he

asked no one in particular.

He looked at my badge, stared

at my clerical collar, looked at the badge again and then the collar and

asked skeptically, "Who the hell are you supposed to be?"

I explained that, yes, I was

a priest, and yes, I was a reserve sheriff's deputy and a certified Georgia

peace officer. It was then he really lit into me.

"Well, sir, you should

really know better than to break the law, shouldn't you, then?" Without

waiting for a reply, he continued, "Here you are a preacher and a

cop to boot and you're just ignoring the speed limit, huh? Why, you ought

to doubly know better. Think of all these kids driving by, seeing you

on the side of the road, asking 'Daddy, why is that minister being stopped

I said, "You are really

enjoying this, aren't you?"

For the first time he grinned

and said, "Yes, sir, I truly am. Preachers have been yelling at me

for years about all my sin, and now it's my turn."

I didn't get a ticket, but

my pride hurt something terrible.

So, I decided, maybe listening

to a 5-year-old isn't such a bad idea. I even put my seat belt on when

Tristan wasn't in the car.

It's bad enough getting rebuked

highway, but when a little red-headed grandson accuses me of being a lawbreaker

well, that's just too much to bear. And, who knows, it might even save

my life someday.

[Father David Epps is rector

of Christ the King Church in south metro Atlanta. He may be contacted

at [email protected] or at www.ChristTheKingCEC.com.]