During my recent travels back in the U.S. I experience sign overload. Highway departments in the States just give you a lot more information on the roadways than they do here in Panama. I still don’t know why I needed this one … “Center Rumble Strip Next Five Miles.” Is that so people don’t keep stopping to look for airplanes?
I saw signs that ranged from rare to “never happening in Panama.” I couldn’t believe the number of railroad crossing signs in the U.S. I can only think of two in Panama. How about the signs that say, “Bridge Freezes Before Roadway?” Just for laughs, let’s put up a few of those on the Interamericanna. And then there were the dozens of snowmobile crossing signs which we passed on our way up to Wisconsin. That’s just never going to be a need in Panama. One of those signs was especially disconcerting. It was an empty snowmobile with an arrow underneath pointing down at the highway. Did it mean “watch out for falling snowmobiles?” Did the lack of a driver indicate there’s a low hanging branch on that part of the trail? Signs help you safely and successfully navigate the environment you’re in.
Wouldn’t it be strange to live in one country while obeying a set of signs from another? Maybe we Expats do that to some extent. Early in our time in Panama, Sue and I saw a driveway in Altos del Maria so steep that we both thought “How are they every going to get up that when it snows?” We were living in Panama but driving with U.S. sensibilities.
Christians are supposed to do that … we walk through this world while obeying the laws of another. Sometimes it makes us stand out, sometimes it draws laughter, at times hatred. Consider the following passages …
Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. 1 Peter 2:11–12
