No Zombies Allowed

Yesterday I had the wonderful misfortune of running into those mindless zombies called protestors down in Los Angeles. I don’t normally go to Los Angeles, as in almost never. I hate driving there. But I have driven there a few times for field trips, or airport trips. I had a conference to go to that I paid for, so off I went.

I gave myself plenty of time to allow for traffic and to find parking when I got there. But I didn’t think about the protestors. I didn’t think they were still there. They took forty minutes of my time, to wait for them to cross in front of a line of cars. I came upon the LA bridge and just stopped. I couldn’t figure out what was going on as I strained to look ahead of me. I saw glimpses of flags slowly moving past the front cars, way up ahead. I sighed loudly, as I realized what had stopped traffic. I looked at my watch. Well, if they pass quickly, I will still have time to get to where I’m going and then find parking. Five minutes passed. Ten minutes passed. Fifteen minutes passed. These people were really slow walkers. Finally, about twenty to twenty-five minutes passed before we could finally move forward.

I quickly moved towards the streets I needed to get to. When I finally got there, the protestors had made it to where I needed to go. They were coming up the road I needed to cross. A motorcycle policeman and a police car parked in each of the two lanes to block anyone from going forward. I got an up close look at them. Very slowly. Very, very slowly, the people walked down the streets. There was no energy among them. No enthusiasm. You would think they were a funeral march as slow as they walked. I’m not for their cause, but even if I was, I wouldn’t have been impressed. They robbed me of forty minutes of my time and countless other people. They took up the police resources who had to watch out for them, since they walked right down the middle of the street, as slowly as possible. This was a pathetic sight. I have heard rumors that many of these people were paid to protest. It sure looked like it. They really had no enthusiasm for their cause. Maybe it would have been more tolerable if they showed a little more energy and maybe looked mad or something. Or, if they chanted or yelled. But not these people, they just slowly moved through the streets like zombies. Like a little blob, carrying flags, barely making it down the street.

I recounted the incident to my kids. I complained how these people robbed me of forty minutes of my time. My daughter says to me, “God gave them a gift of thinking, why don’t they use it?” Good question! Why don’t they use it? Why don’t they think? I don’t think anyone was happy with these people. Nobody was honking their horns or waving their hands as a show of approval. There was nothing. Just silent zombies walking forward, taking up the streets and taking up people’s time and all of us in our cars impatiently waiting for them to pass by.

What did they accomplish? What was the point? It seemed like a galactic waste of time and money. This whole incident reminded me of this verse:

Rev. 3:16 “So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”

God says He hates the lukewarm. He says to pick a side, any side. Just pick a side and go all out. These protestors acted like they could care less if they were there. They moved at a glacial pace. If they really cared about what they were doing, they would have had more energy. If you are going to protest, then by golly, get out there and protest. If you want to be hot, be all hot. If you want to be cold, then be all cold. But don’t be lukewarm. Don’t be like these zombies walking around as if their diapers were full and they could barely walk because of it.