In my lovely state of Ohio  if you get caught drinking and driving  you could be ordered to install bright orange license plates on your vehicle.  The plates are hard to miss.  When you have them you might as well have a neon sign saying. “I have a drinking problem.”    Someone has affectionately given these orange plates the term “party plates” as  the driver obviously likes to party.
I confess, when I see people driving down the road with this kind of plate I immediately put both hands on the wheel and wait for them to go left of center.

Sometimes, I have wondered if it might be helpful if people had signs like these. For instance, a bright red sign means  ”I must always be right don’t argue with me or I swear a lot…be ready to cover your ears.” Or, a neon yellow sign says  ”I am co-dependent if you want me to call you every hour on the hour go ahead and give me your cell phone number.”

I grew up in a Christian school and church with people who tried to  live as if their lives were perfect. If there were issues in their lives they did the best they could to keep them covered up.  Heaven forbid, if YOU had an issue and others became aware of it!  Just like me avoiding those orange plates, it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for people to avoid you… like somehow your problems might be contagious.

Sometimes I think we should have to wear signs.  Maybe then we’d be forced to be honest with each other and, after all, honesty is the first step toward healing.

Now, thank heaven,I  go to a church that is very real with sin issues and cultivates an environment where we can be honest with each other about our struggles. It is so much more helpful to have people who truly know you and are able to pray for you and with you about your daily problems. And when we’re all wearing our “party plates” for others to see it also shows us that we are not alone.  We all come with “caution” signs.  But the love of Christ allows us to proceed beyond the caution sign to love the person beneath.

You won’t see my “plate” on the radio, but  listen long enough you will learn some of my issues.  Trust me it won’t take you very long to figure them out and I hope that you’ll still love me because I know God does.  And I’ll listen to you, openly and without judgement because I know His heart is for all of us to get beyond the “plates” to the person.