I had an interesting confrontation yesterday, while trying to find a parking spot at the Scarborough Town Centre mall for Boxing Day shopping with my Mom and sister (for the Americans amongst us, Boxing Day is December 26th, equivalent to Black Friday in terms of shopping deals). I was sitting there in my dad’s Ford Escape, waiting for a shopper to come out of The Bay’s entrance to their parked car to leave, so I can take their spot. One person on the right had their car door opened so I signaled right — but after he closed the door and walked toward the mall, it was obvious that he had just arrived.

So I sit there and wait patiently, car idling, instead of driving around aimlessly wasting gas, looking for a spot.

And then suddenly, a lady on my left walks up to her car, unlocks it and steps in, so I signal left and cheer on the inside at what gift has fell on my lap for my patience. As she backs out, I drive in.

BUT out of nowhere, some brown kid walks quickly right into my parking spot, with his mom at the side. In bewilderment, I just kept on driving slowly into my parking spot with little intention of stopping for a stupid kid who thinks that he got there first simply by standing in the spot. Thank God he realized that I wasn’t going to stop driving in and stepped out of the way, otherwise I would have hit him with the SUV — albeit a bit slowly.

One I parked, the kid has the audacity to wave at me on the driver-side window, as if trying to argue with me that he got there first. I roll down the window and he tries to tell me that they got there first, and I try to tell the poor kid that I was waiting there for like 5 minutes and had clearly signaled to signify that it was mine.

When I got out of my car, somehow out of nowhere, the kid’s dad walks up and starts yelling at me. I now see that the taxi that he drives was now stopped behind my parked car, and he thens starts yelling at me, trying to convince me that somehow they got there first and the parking spot was supposed to be theirs.

It seems that while the previous occupant of the parking spot was walking out from the mall, she had came across the family while walking across the adjacent row of parking and made a promise to that family that hey could have the parking spot. BUT HER CAR WAS PARKED ONE ROW OVER, where I was the lone car waiting patiently. The family from the taxi thus sends kid and mom to walk across the row of parking to somehow “reserve” the spot for themselves by trying to stand in it, on account that the lady had made a supposed promise with them that they could have it. Some people apparently think that person standing trumps car waiting in the realm of the parking lot.

I got quite pissed; mad. And was in no way going to give up my spot after I had parked, knowing it was rightfully mine. I really didn’t want to argue with the family; I honestly just wanted to walk away silently and completely ignoring them. But for whatever reason, they had to confront me, and thus we had a short argument about who was right, whom the parking spot was rightfully for. The family made my blood boil, making me really uncomfortable — after all, I really didn’t want to argue with them (even though I was right), and it was one of those situations that you don’t want others knowing you’re a Christian, let a lone studying to become a pastor.

As I walked into the mall, I found myself asking, “What would Mark Driscoll do?” For I told my sister, if I were the “cussing pastor” I would have told the guy

“Go tell, you &%$#@F!^ heretic scum! I got here first, you &%$#@F!^ @%% #%&#!

In the early days, I think that might have been what Pastor Mark would have done; it was something I almost wanted to say. When we’re young, we make mistakes, and say the wrong things, and sometimes do things that we don’t really want to do and say things we don’t really want to say. And then shrink into a little ball in our minds, wishing all that had happened didn’t.

But these days, Pastor Mark would humbly apologize and carefully explain in the vernacular of the hearers what was really happening, and why the parking spot was rightfully his. If he indeed did speak an profanities or offend the others, he would apologize and say I’m sorry for the heated confrontation, that it was unintentional and that he did not mean to say all that.

I think that’s what Mark Driscoll would have done.

~sighs~

Oh Boxing Day in Canada. Sometimes, it just brings the worst out of people! All the fuss we can get into just to get a deal on things we don’t really need.