Forceful reminder

I was driving home from a work event the other night and all of a sudden....

yes, police lights behind me. You know the feeling you get, right?
Stomach drops a bit, you get a little sweaty...I was wondering what did I do?
Just a little bit of authority and an impending sense of the potential for punishment and my whole outlook changed.
So, up walks the officer and he asks for license and registration. I give him the documents and he informs me that my right brake light is out.

Great, so he leaves me to stew about whether or not I am going to get a fine for something I was completely oblivious to...

But the whole experience got me to thinking about the way I reacted to authority. How my pulse raced and I became acutely aware of what I was doing on the road. I knew that I wasn't speeding, but had I inadvertently done something else?

I think it would be great to get these types of reminders in our relationship with God. Do we often think about sin in the context of the impending punishment that it really deserves and that we are destined to without Christ's sacrifice? Our pulse should race and we should sweat buckets over the ultimate's authority to pass judgment due to the actions we have done that have been against his law. We are blessed to have a God that wanted the relationship with us and gave us a warning and allows us to make our choice. I wonder if the police officer that stopped me was a christian, because he let me off with a warning as well.