Today I was traveling with a Malawi Assembly of God Divisional Director to a village about an hour drive from Lilongwe. The highway we were driving on is under construction in a few places. As we were driving I topped a hill only to see a very slow moving vehicle in front of me. There was no traffic coming from the other direction so I pulled out and begin to pass the slow moving vehicle. When I pulled out I saw two policeman standing in the road about a kilometer away, but didn't give them much thought since I was not breaking any laws.
After overtaking the slow moving car I pulled back into my lane. As we came closer to the two policemen standing in the road I saw one put his hand up and motion me to the side of the road. There was no radar equipment in sight, so I thought it must be the never-ending check of all the proper registrations that every vehicle in Malawi must have in order to drive on the roads. The policeman walked up to my window and addressed me as, "Mr. Assembly of God" (the name is painted on the side of our vehicles). I greeted him in my very best Chichewa. He then told me that what I had done was illegal, and wanted to know if I understood that what I had done was illegal. I told him that I didn't know what he was talking about. He said, "Mister Assembly of God, you have been driving inconsiderately!" I then asked what he meant by driving inconsiderately. He said that overtaking the car in a construction zone was against the law, and it was inconsiderate. I told him that the car was only traveling about 15 kilometers an hour on an open stretch of a major highway. He said, "Mister Assembly of God, that does not matter, you were driving inconsiderately." I told him I was very sorry and that I would do my best to become a considerate driver. He told me that God might just forgive me, and he would as well, if I would drive considerately. I said, "Thank you Jesus!" (under my breath of course!)
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