Everybody Pays Tolls

P.O Box 1540, Albany Western Australia 6331
Phone/Fax: (08) 98 418 418
E-mail: abl-alb@omninet.net.au

Everybody Pays Tolls
Friends, it’s obvious that some of us have a hard time with accountability and responsibility. He prefers to jump gates, break lines, and drive too fast. She is prone think she is an exception to the rules and can get away with defying them. Then comes the moment of rude awakening. Reality breaks in. The piper has to be paid. Take the strange anecdote of the Florida tollbooth cheat as a case in point. Wesley Ridgewell saw no need to pay the paltry tolls along the Florida highways. So he zipped through 705 tollbooths between August 1999 and June 2000 without paying. When the 23-year-old man was first tracked down, he denied everything. “I’m such a good person,” he protested. “People who know me just can’t believe this is happening.” He claimed that someone had stolen one of his two “JST CRZY” personalized plates and put it on a care that looked like his. But his story fell apart when a police officer pulled over a car with plate “JST CRZY” for not paying a toll. And guess who was behind the wheel? You’re ahead of me. Wesley Ridgewell has a long history of traffic problems. A dozen convictions ranging from speeding to drunken driving are on his record. This time the court suspended his license for three months and fined him $15,000. Ouch! A couple of fifty cent pieces here and there would have been far more bearable. “I apologize,” he said, “I do understand that everyone should have to pay the tolls.” Well, friends, what taught you that lesson? Did you fudge your credentials and get into a job beyond your training skills? Have you tried to make relationships work by taking without giving? What about professions of faith without a changed life? Adam and Eve thought they could eat the forbidden fruit without paying the toll. David deemed himself a powerful enough man to take another man’s wife and avoid the toll usually paid. Judas turned his back on Jesus and gave no though to the toll he would have to pay for his choice. Friends, the Bible reminds each of us about accountability and toll-paying. “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked,” wrote Paul. “A man reaps what he sows” (Galatians 6:7) The truth is, from the dues we are expected to pay at toll booths to the moral consequences for our adult actions, life makes its demands. Therefore, anyone who thinks he or she can escape life’s toll booths is “JST CRZY.” For your comments or questions, just write to me at: Email me or write to me at P.O Box 1540, Albany W.A 6331. Telephone / Fax (08) 98 418 418

Friends, it’s obvious that some of us have a hard time with accountability and responsibility. He prefers to jump gates, break lines, and drive too fast. She is prone think she is an exception to the rules and can get away with defying them. Then comes the moment of rude awakening. Reality breaks in. The piper has to be paid. Take the strange anecdote of the Florida tollbooth cheat as a case in point.

Wesley Ridgewell saw no need to pay the paltry tolls along the Florida highways. So he zipped through 705 tollbooths between August 1999 and June 2000 without paying. When the 23-year-old man was first tracked down, he denied everything. “I’m such a good person,” he protested. “People who know me just can’t believe this is happening.”

He claimed that someone had stolen one of his two “JST CRZY” personalized plates and put it on a care that looked like his. But his story fell apart when a police officer pulled over a car with plate “JST CRZY” for not paying a toll. And guess who was behind the wheel? You’re ahead of me.

Wesley Ridgewell has a long history of traffic problems. A dozen convictions ranging from speeding to drunken driving are on his record. This time the court suspended his license for three months and fined him $15,000. Ouch! A couple of fifty cent pieces here and there would have been far more bearable. “I apologize,” he said, “I do understand that everyone should have to pay the tolls.”

Well, friends, what taught you that lesson? Did you fudge your credentials and get into a job beyond your training skills? Have you tried to make relationships work by taking without giving? What about professions of faith without a changed life?

Adam and Eve thought they could eat the forbidden fruit without paying the toll. David deemed himself a powerful enough man to take another man’s wife and avoid the toll usually paid. Judas turned his back on Jesus and gave no though to the toll he would have to pay for his choice.

Friends, the Bible reminds each of us about accountability and toll-paying. “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked,” wrote Paul. “A man reaps what he sows” (Galatians 6:7) The truth is, from the dues we are expected to pay at toll booths to the moral consequences for our adult actions, life makes its demands.

Therefore, anyone who thinks he or she can escape life’s toll booths is “JST CRZY.”

For your comments or questions, just write to me at:

Email me
or write to me at
P.O Box 1540,
Albany W.A 6331.

Telephone / Fax (08) 98 418 418