I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:2, 3).


We had just returned from serving as missionaries in Thailand and Singapore. Life in America was new especially for our three children. Only a couple of months after settling in College Place, Washington, I had an encounter with "The Law." At dusk I was cruising along the main street with our children in the back seat. A siren sounded, and when I looked in my rearview mirror, I saw the flashing red lights behind me. A traffic cop wanted me to pull over. Having never experienced this before, our three children dived in panic to the floor and tried to hide behind (and, if possible, under) the seats. Somewhere the kids had gotten the idea that the enforcer of the law (and probably the law itself) was downright scary. (Couldn’t have been from their parents, could it?) I pulled over. The policeman turned out to be a student of mine. He was more embarrassed and apologetic than I was. He was working as a policeman to support himself while he was in school. He needed a good grade from me! He had pulled me over to let me know that one of the taillights on the old Mercury Comet was out. He was trying to help! My children had completely misjudged the enforcer of the law and the law itself.