Pastor John Beukema writes:

After moving to a new state, I walked into the Department of Motor Vehicles to get my new driver's license. Imagine my surprise when the guy behind the desk said he couldn't help me because my license was suspended.

I said, "There must be some mistake. I've never done anything to deserve that."

The civil servant was very civil and said I had to clear up the problem with the State of Massachusetts before he could help me. I hadn't lived in Massachusetts for 10 years, so I couldn't imagine what was wrong. But five long distance phone calls later, I found that it was no mistake—the law had finally caught up with me. When I'd moved from that state a decade before, I owed part of an excise tax of two dollars.

Blissfully unaware that I was a scofflaw, the tiny little bill began to work hard accruing penalties and interest. That bill had to be settled—and I had to pay for a new Massachusetts driver's license and registration for a car that had long ago become scrap metal—before I could become legal in my new home state. The price tag was nearly $300.

The whole thing made me a lot embarrassed. It wasn't so much the money that bothered me. It was knowing that I was guilty—on the wrong side of the law for all those years without even being aware of it.

How shocking it will be for those who stand before the God of the Universe one day and realize, for the first time, that he holds them accountable.