Hebrews 10:24-25, James 5:16, Exodus 17

Fiona Bridges

Just recently I had the pleasure of undergoing a highly embarrassing driving moment.

It all began while I was on the M1 traveling home from Luton to Nottingham, ecstatic about finely reaching the beginning of the long weekend! The sun was shining, my favorite CD was pumping its way through the stereo system and the traffic seemed to be flowing fairly well. Life was good! Then it happened . . .

In front of me a horizon of motionless traffic appeared. The cars in front of me jammed on their breaks and suddenly the nightmare began. A traffic jam!

Determined not to let it spoil my long weekend I decided to embrace the situation and use it to listen to a sermon on my i-pod. Before I got very far, I noticed the man in the car behind me flashing his head lights. I thought it was a bit odd as we were stuck in a traffic jam and there was clearly no way I could go any faster so I just ignored it. After about 10 minutes the traffic began to ease a little so I rolled on down the M1 hitting a top of 15 miles an hour!

When the cars came to a stand still again I noticed that the man behind me was still flashing his head lights. I thought by this time that perhaps he had accidentally knocked the lights on and was completely unaware of it. Trying to be of help I turned around and tried to get his attention through the back window. As soon as I had turned around to face him he began flapping his hands around in the air trying to mouth some words to me. I had absolutely no idea what he was saying but he sure looked flustered!

I tried my best to signaling back to him that his lights were on but that only seemed to get him more excited. Next thing I know he was getting out of his car and walking towards me!

'Oh no', I thought . . . I am about to become the victim of a road rage incident! Afraid of what was about to happen I locked the car doors, but before I knew it he was tapping on my window. Next he began motioning for me to wind down the windows. Tentatively I began to roll down my window part way, not quite sure of what to expect. As I did I suddenly realized what all the commotion was about.

In a calm and gentle voice he explained to me

'Love . . . both your back break lights are gone'.

I nearly died of embarrassment!

I had driven down to Luton and most of the way back with no break lights! I was an accident waiting to happen, but totally unaware of it!

If someone hadn't been watching my back I would never have known and could have run into big problems.

The whole incident reminded me of how important it is for us to have other people in our lives who can 'watch our backs'. Most Christians today like to call it accountability. It's really all about sharing your journey with one or two other trusted people, being real with them about where you are at and allowing them to support you and speak into your life.

According to a number of passages in the Bible, this kind of accountability is top priority for us if we really want to live out our lives God's way. Take some time to read through the following passages and make a list of the different ways we are encouraged to be accountable with one another.