Accident? There is No Such Thing

A funny thing happened on my way home from work.

You know, I am not a person who shares many events from my personal life on Facebook. I tend to post my writings – things I observe, columns I have written, things I have learned. My tendency leans toward  sharing  observations about the reality of life, and how God weaves Himself into the tapestry of all those events.

Sometimes God uses the events of life as an object lesson.

Did you know that a pedestrian is killed in an automobile accident in the United States every two hours? According to the Governors Highway Safety Association there were nearly 6000 pedestrian fatalities in 2016, an 11 percent spike over 2015. Researchers speculate that the increase centers around distractions – of either the driver or the pedestrian which results in the accident.

This evening, I was a pedestrian.

Steps of the Mind

The seven o’clock whistle blew and I slid out of the Courier-Journal building the same way Fred Flintstone slid down the dinosaur’s tail when the work day finished. My mind and stomach had settled upon a burrito and queso from Moe’s for supper. Their seasonal salsa flavor includes the infamously hot Scorpion pepper and I couldn’t wait to have my tongue seared.

The sidewalk from our front door heads straight to an indention into the parking lots across the street. If you jaywalk through Broadway – downtown’s four lane thoroughfare – you can walk straight across the street, through one public parking lot to my company’s parking lots. But my dad taught me not to break the law by jaywalking.

So I journeyed to the end of the block and waited for the little man to begin walking. The light changed and I walked at a normal pace to the double yellow line. An accident waiting to happen? Who would have thought? Although I cannot visually remember the moment, a car came speeding down the street and made a left turn. The legs went out from under me and for an instant I was parallel to the street. My body hit what I think was the hood of the car and I bounced – pretty much still parallel – until I was on my back on Broadway. They say the neon lights are bright.

My life did not pass in front of me. There were no streets of gold lined with angels. I remember thinking, “This is so stupid. I can’t believe this is happening.”

But it did and it was. A witness to the accident who is an EMT – I so wish I had gotten her name – came running from the parking lot and called 911 before she reached me. Within seconds we were surrounded by the police and EMS. The technicians determined my blood pressure was high – duh. The one tech concluded that I was coherent and okay, but he wisely did not venture so far as to say I was normal. I passed on the opportunity to go to the hospital for X-rays. A little shaken, a lot sore, I drove home.

No Accident

When I arrived at home, I began to do what I do – think. And when I think, I write. Bruised and battered, it is no accident what was on my mind.

 

1. We spend far too much time in life doing things that don’t matter. I am 61 years’ old and I know that life is but a blade of grass. But it is so easy to push that reality from our minds. There are so many things that I want to do – so many things that I need to do. Things that are not only urgent but important fill my bucket list.  Instead, being busy fills my days. Too busy to lead a small group. Too busy to spend time with my wife. Even too busy to do anything in the evenings but sit on the couch and watch TV before dozing off to sleep. The Bible says to be busy with the important things while there is still the light of day. The bounce on the hood needs to be my wake-up call. Don’t wait for a tragedy to awaken to the important things.

 

2. More importantly, we don’t spend nearly enough time assuring the important people in our lives that they do matter. Like granddaughters. Children. A spouse. Colleagues at work. Friends at church. One of the things I thought of this evening was the dialogue in the spectacular musical and movie “Fiddler on the Rood.” Do you love me? Of course I do – look at all of the things I do for you. I need to make sure I voice those feelings instead of assuming the important people “know.”

 

3. Finally, we need to spend more time recalibrating the things in which we believe. The lady that hit me asked several times if I was okay. The EMS and police seemed to be waiting for me to be mad and explode. They seemed to worry that I was delirious because I wasn’t yelling. Dictated by our beliefs, our actions stand on the foundation of whose we are. I didn’t yell because I believe in God, because I see purpose beyond the circumstances, because I choose not to be a yeller. I need to spend more time thinking about those beliefs – reaffirming them in my mind. It would have been a lot easier to be incredibly angry last night. The world shows me a lot of ways that I could react. I need to constantly reaffirm the beliefs that are my foundation – the reasons for my hope.

God in the Crosswalk

The Weaver of threads, the Potter of His clay, the Creator of the universe, the providential Caregiver, the God in the crosswalk is not surprised by the events of our lives. He is not wringing His hands, wiping the sweat from His brow, wondering how in the world He can straighten out the mess of our lives.

He knows.  The Father already straightened it through the Son.

Was I involved in an accident this evening? No. I was involved in an “on purpose.”