MARTENSVILLE, SK
Vehicles were backed up for blocks in the small Mennonite town of Martensville this week after Pastor Martens gave a particularly stirring sermon on Matthew 20.
“The last shall be first, and the first shall be last,” said Pastor Martens, who compelled his parishioners to apply this lesson to their daily lives.
That Sunday afternoon, Martensville came to stand still as every Martens in town politely waved the other drivers through. The problem was, no one wanted to be first.
“Oba, nay, I’m not going first!” said Mr. Martens. “I’m staying right here. Go ahead, Klaas. You have the right-of-way.”
“Nah, Pieta! You go!” said Klaas. “I’m pretty sure you got to the intersection first.”
As more cars started to arrive and no one seemed to be moving, the police showed up at the scene to sort things out.
“I tried to direct traffic, but no one would enter the intersection,” said Constable Martens. “It was incredibly frustrating.”
Eventually it was agreed upon by all parties that someone would just yell “three-two-one go!” and they would all go at the same time. The results of this suggestion were as expected and more than two hundred vehicles were written off. Thankfully, not a single Martens was injured.
(photo credit: CJ Sorg/CC)
