The toddler was screaming in her carseat about wanting fruit snacks, upset that I did not have any. I was merging over to the right lane. I thought I checked the mirrors for approaching cars. I did not hear the honking. Crunch. . . A sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Thoughts started swirling frantically:
Oh crap!
I have to pick up my daughter and neighbor's son. I'm gonna be late!
My daughter's play. I'm going to miss it!
What happened? I could have sworn I looked. Where did the car come from?
My husband is going to kill me. We just talked about how tight finances are.
Will insurance cover this?
All my fault! I am such a bad driver!
Who is this other driver? I wish my husband were here to help me take care of this. What if the driver starts to cuss me out?
The baby is still crying. What am I going to do?
I need to get out and exchange info with the driver. . . please don't let him be mean to me! I need to get out of traffic. I need to find a safe place. . . where, where. . . Ok shopping plaza. . . Ok, public, safe. Oh, I'm going to be late...
My daughter is going to be disappointed I am not there!
Lord, oh gosh, give me peace! Help me to be calm and level headed. . . .
The other car followed me to a safe spot where we could pull over and get out. I immediately apologized that I didn't see him. I started rambling about the baby crying and screaming. He said he was in the lane and honked. I told him I didn't hear him. We looked at the damage to his car. Not too bad -- but still will cost something. We looked at my car -- just small scratches. Not to bad. Some relief. We took pictures of the damage and exchanged information and insurance cards. The other driver felt he needed to report it to the police, so he called them. . . I had to call my husband and ask him to pick up my middle daughter and our neighbor's son from preschool. The panic and worry was rising within me. I was anxious that I would miss my older daughter's performance. . . We waited for what seemed like an eternity, but in actuality probably no more than 10 or 15 minutes. We find out there were no available patrol cars and it would be a while before an officer could get to us. The other driver had a meeting he was late for also. The baby was crying and I needed to go. . .
In the midst of this storm, I was crying out silently to the Lord and He was there with me each step. It was a blessing that the other driver did not cuss or yell at me. He easily could have. In today's society you never know what you will get. . . . People exhibit road rage for much less. I think he recognized that I was frazzled and distressed. He told me he had three children of his own too, so he understands they can be a handful and the juggling. . . Because it looked like it would take forever for an officer to arrive, he said that as long as I gave my word that I would cover the small damage to his car, we could continue on our way. I gave him my word and even allowed him to record it. I knew that was the right thing to do.
He asked me if I had been distracted. I hated to admit it, but I guess I really was. I was distracted by so many things. Prior to the accident, in addition the baby crying for her snack, I was thinking about an upcoming bible study and how to teach biblical concepts of spiritual warfare. . . I was thinking about a friend who has been feeling under attack and thinking of how I could best help her by inviting her over to pray together. . .
I didn't know the man's faith, but the Spirit prompted me to tell him that I was a Christian and that he has my word. I tried to explain that as a Christian, when I do something wrong, I feel convicted and will do my best to remedy it and make it right with him and God. I rambled on about how I felt like this was just another attack by the Enemy. The other driver said, "I'm not your enemy." I had to explain that I knew that, I didn't mean he was. I just meant that I think things always happen for a reason and I think the Enemy has been targeting my family all this year in numerous ways to undermine our faith. I found myself sharing briefly about how my nephew has a brain tumor and how my father-in-law just had surgery for cancer. . . The man empathized and said he was sorry. He told me to keep pressing on and be safe driving. I was so grateful and so thankful that despite everything I know we can have hope things will be better because of our faith. He seemed to believe in holding on to hope. . . I know I fumbled a lot over the words, but I hope my message came across. I normally would not get into all of these things with a complete stranger, but I felt I needed to for some reason. . .
He got in his car and drove away. I got in mine and headed to my daughter's school for her play. I praised Jesus for being with me and keeping us safe and for the kindness of the other driver. . . Once I got to my daughter's school, my phone rang and it was the other driver. He called to check that the baby and I were safe to our destination. He told me he felt bad and that he just wanted to check to see if we were alright. I told him I was thankful that it was him that I hit and not someone else. I thanked him for his kindness. I told him I believed that God uses all things for a purpose. He told me that he believed the same and that perhaps we both needed this to happen for a reason -- whatever that reason is. He reassured me that we'd work this all out together.
What grace. What mercy. What kindness from a complete stranger! It made me think of this verse:
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:4-9
Life is full of distractions. The enemy wants to keep us focused on so many other things so that we are not focused on the Lord. He doesn't want us doing God's work so he will attack us when we leave ourselves vulnerable. Even the good stuff we do for the Lord can distract us if we are so intent on the doing and forget the One who we serve. Praise the Lord that the beauty of the gospel is that God's grace and mercy is a gift! We cannot earn it by anything that we do. We cannot brag about having it because we do nothing to deserve it. Even in our good intentions we can still fall so short of His glory. Yet in His great love for us, God sent his own son to die for us. His grace saves us eternally if we believe in Jesus and what He did for us on the cross. I love how this verse talks of "the immeasurable riches of his kindness toward us." God shows his grace to us in Jesus but also uses others around us to show us grace.
On the road of life we will encounter some fender benders -- times when we collide with others in a variety of ways. It might be opposing positions, disagreements about marriage, relationships, work, finances, parenting. . . Whatever the reasons, we have a choice in how we respond. Do we respond with road rage or do we extend grace? Today I learned a great deal about extending grace. Because God showed me grace, because I receive grace undeservedly, it challenges me to always show such grace to those around me.
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