>From a Baptist-pastor friend:

NUNN OF THAT (an article I wrote for the local paper)

Have you ever made a sincere mistake?

A friend, who is very prim and proper, ran into some trouble recently. She was travelling down Warragul Road, Melbourne, minding her own business, when she noticed that the local council was in the collection of household rubbish mode. The locals were putting out all the rubbish they had been hoarding to send it to the tip. We all appreciate this annual chore!

My friend, while driving at the speed limit and under, was looking at the collection of junk that had been put out. There were, as usual, bits and pieces of everything. Being a very thrifty person, she was on the lookout for anything she might use.

To her delight and amazement, there on the side of the road, she saw a microwave oven. "How wonderful", she thought, for this was something she had always wanted. The traffic was very light, believe it or not, so she stopped her car, turned around and went back, to pick it up. She pulled up the car, opened the boot and popped in the very posh-looking microwave oven and off she drove.

My friend was waiting for the lights to change, at the South Road intersection when, to her surprise, a police car motioned to her to pull over. She felt somewhat indignant as she never broke the road rules. She was also embarrassed.

The policeman asked her what she had in her boot. She explained that she had seen a microwave oven, put out amongst a rubbish collection, and that she had picked it up. Shouldn't she have done so? The policeman was aghast, as he explained to her that her treasured microwave oven was, in fact, a speed camera that he had been about to install, on the side of the road!

My friend will never be the same again, and neither will the policeman. She meant so well, but was quite wrong.

Life is often like that, isn't it? We all make sincere mistakes - and the ability to laugh at oneself is a great way to deal with life's pressures. Next time you pass a council rubbish collection, have a laugh at yourself. (And we all need the garbage of our lives removed, but let us be sure it is garbage. Often, what is of no value to us, may be the heart's desire of another.)

If you have never made a mistake, you may not have made anything!

Alan Nunn.