"It Could Have Been Us"

On Sunday afternoon, my husband and I took a brief getaway to a Small Historic Town near here. We stayed in an historic inn, had the bed and breakfast special, shopped a little, and had a swim. Then we started home. There was pretty, light snow falling.

As we neared home, traffic slowed, and we saw up ahead what had happened: a car was sitting at a right angle to the road, facing a pole. The roads were starting to get slippery. My husband turned to me and said, "it could have been us." He reflected on what a good idea it was for me to shop for just a few minutes longer at the Scandinavian gift shop.

We returned home, unpacked, did a little laundry, took naps. We heard the message machine beep: it was a call from the pastor at my husband's church, saying that it was his call whether he would come to the Monday night service that evening.

It was still snowing.

My husband thought we needed to go out to pick up our dog at the sitter anyway, so we would leave early and go to church.

Almost immediately after leaving, we thought that might have been a mistake. The streets were very slippery and traffic was stopped on the freeway. We saw another traffic backup and another accident. We had hoped to leave earlier, but now my husband was glad. "If we had left a few minutes earlier, that could have been us."

It was beginning to look like we might not arrive at the church on time. We considered, more than once, just forgetting about church, and continuing on to get the dog. We took an alternate route, since our normal route to church was, again, deadlocked traffic.

It looked like it was going to be close. We might get to church with two or three minutes to spare. But in the end, we made a left turn into the church parking lot at five minutes before the church service.

Just as we were turning left, the car behind us hit us, on the driver's side. There is a cracked taillight, a dent on the left bumper, and the driver's side down. Also, the driver's side door will not close.

After the police report and the exchange of insurance information, we had to drive home with a rope to hold the door closed. (yes, we did pick up the dog.)

Did I tell you, my husband was driving, but it was my car?

I'm trying to put the best construction on this (many people at the church offered to help us, we are glad no one was hurt, etc.) but I'm not totally succeeding.

Three out of Four Bumpers Agree....

I'm not quite at the point that I can joke about this, but I am beating myself up a little bit less today. I also DO realize that it could have been a lot worse. I was driving to the hospital Saturday after the church service when the traffic on the freeway came to a sudden stop. (There is a lot of road construction around here, and it is winter.) I tried to slow down and stop, discerned that I might not be able to stop in time, and attempted to make a lane change into the right hand lane, which was clear. That's when my car suddenly started to spin. A moment of terror. Two other cars had some damage as well, but nobody was hurt.

I'm still a little down, although after calling my insurance company, and visiting the auto body shop, it appears that they will be able to fix the car. They aren't sure, of course, until they open the hood, which they advised me not to do.

Tonight we are getting our getting our first honest-to-goodness "snow advisory". Three to four inches of snow is falling. It's pretty, but it makes me want to stay in, not go out. I did enjoy watching Scout play in the snow for a little while, which calmed my soul. She also kept me company Saturday evening when I was feeling like a dolt. Dogs are good that way. So are husbands.

I'd like to glean a nice religious lesson from this, but I don't have one yet. Except that for calming the soul, often, just a small miracle will do.

The Car Place

Last night on the way home from work the "check engine" light abruptly came on. I called my car dealer right away, as I have an irrational fear of being stranded somewhere with my car, and I don't have a cell phone, either. The service person said since the light was not blinking, that was a good sign (if the check engine light was blinking, she said, she's advise to pull over right away and get the car towed in), but I thought it best to get it checked out right away.

So I got an appointment and spent more time than I would like at "the car place" today. I brought a book I have been reading (Preaching as Testimony, by Anna Carter Florence), and some sermon folders, so that I could work ahead.

"The Car Place" is somewhere I feel most dislocated. I am totally out of my element when I am there, at the mercy of whatever advice they mean to give me. At a bookstore -- I belong. But at the Service and Repair station, I am ignorant and incompetent.

The first thing I found out when I came is that someone signed me up for something called "Oil Change for Life." Every 3500 miles, if you take your car in, you get a free oil change. I had no idea. No one ever told me about this benefit. So I have not been taking full advantage of it.

I'm sure there's a lesson in here somewhere, right?

So, I was sitting in The Car Place, waiting for my car, and reading ahead on the lessons for a week from Sunday. You know, "I come not to bring peace, but a sword." "Anyone who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me." "Whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven." You know, fun stuff like that.

The lesson talks about sparrows, too, how not one of them falls without God noticing. Jesus tells the disciples that the hairs on their heads are all counted, that they are of more value than many sparrows. Maybe they are all at the first century version of The Car Place, and they feel out of their element, incompetent, ignorant. Maybe they look around and say to themselves, "You know, I really don't belong here. It would be really easy for people to smile and take advantage of me."

And I thought about those who are sparrows now, the ones whose lives seem to be dispensable to us (sold for a penny), like the Mexican woman I know who fled domestic abuse, and was undocumented here for awhile, like the albinos who are being murdered in Tanzania, because their bones are valuable to witch doctors. They are valuable to God, not dispensable at all, and God is willing to fight to the death for them.

Eventually the car was done, and it cost a goodly sum to repair, even with the free oil change. I am still musing on these words of Jesus.

And especially these: "So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known."

Even and especially the value of sparrows, caught in a world where they their worth is hidden.

April Milestones

April has always been a big month in my family. There are several April birthdays on both sides of my family. I want to shout "Hey!" to my cousins Cheryl, Brian, Karen and Rick, who share this birthday month with me. One of my grandmothers had an April birthday, as well as several aunts and uncles. My brother-in-law also claims an April birthday. As Wayne and Garth would say, "Party on!" That's what we did, all during April!

Like the picture? My mom made the dress. And it was a combined Easter/birthday party that year. My cousin, as you can see, is not thrilled with my display of cousinly affection.

Other April milestones:

1. My car is paid for as of TODAY. The Camry is all mine now, and I hope will be for years to come. It is the first car I bought new (had only 15 miles on it).

2. April 12 is my one year blogging anniversary. Yes, at 4:45 p.m. on April 12, I logged into blogger for the first time, and posted the forgettable entry Saving Newspapers. At the time I didn't know how to do hyperlinks, blogrolls, images, videos: pretty much anything! There is still a lot I don't know (I would now call my computer knowledge "uneven").

3. I get get to meet up with fellow-blogger Jan sometime this week. I think this will be my 4th blogger meet-up. I have met fellow-bloggers RevDrKate, HotCup Lutheran and HubHC, and Fran, and Pastor Eric! (Just last week.) I hope to meet some fellow-bloggers also at the Festival of Homiletics in May here in My Town.

4. April 15 is not only tax day for us. It is the anniversary of the day we brought Scout home, three years ago. I picked her up at the nursing home, and listened to her howl all the way home in the car.

The next day I went to a church assembly the whole day. It also rained all day. My poor husband had to deal with a six-week-old puppy that didn't want to go out in the rain.

But, she did enjoy meeting the mailman, as you can see.

We studied a lot before we got Scout. We thought we knew a lot. But, as with blogging, there was a Very High Learning Curve.