Aselin

I’ve had two close calls this week while driving lending me to believe ‘Someone’ is looking out for me, ‘cause while I’m safe, and competent I’m not the trickster of a driver the following scenarios required.

While driving to California a semi truck one car in front of me blew a tire, jackknifed, pulled up on two wheels and was prevented from flipping over by driving up on the guardrail. Even though we were traveling at 75 miles per hour, the whole thing happened in slow motion. It was amazing how much information was processed by my tiny brain in the hundredth of a second that I had to act.

I weighed changing lanes, swerving to the shoulder, or straight on braking. My arm flew across the chest of my passenger, because I’m a mother, to prevent her from flying through the windshield as I braked. Like all ‘mother restraint arms’ I’m sure my arm was stronger than the seatbelt she was wearing.

As we skidded to a stop, freakishly close to the disabled semi it was all we could do to breathe. Miraculously, no one was hurt in the entire accident even though the semi and the guardrail had seen better days.

After the incident I immediately said a prayer of gratitude for everyone’s well being, and for being looked out for so well. Yet during the prayer I couldn’t help but think, just because no one was injured, does that mean God was directly involved? If someone had been injured does that mean His hand wasn’t present?

The whole idea haunted me for days. I’m just not ready to declare that all good outcomes are the will of God, which would conversely mean that the bad ones are His will too. I don’t think he wants any of His children to suffer. I’m more inclined to think that some stuff just happens in this life.

What I’ve come to opine is that all of us will be affected by the decisions of others for good or bad. Maybe the semi driver didn’t care for his tires the way he should have. Maybe he ran over something that would have flattened even the best tire. While I’m confident in his omnipotence, I’m not sure God is involved in all that.

Later, traveling in another long drive I passed one of those “falling rock” signs we have all seen, but never seen the falling rock. Today I met the rock. It was larger than a cantaloupe but smaller than a watermelon. It came flying into my lane leaving me two options: swerve into the occupied fast lane or try and straddle the rock hoping it was smaller than my tire height.

I straddled the rock, it was not smaller than my axle height and lifted my minivan off the road as I drove over it. It shot out like a rocket into the grill of the semi behind me making a second horrendous thwank. Again, I was immediately grateful that a semi was behind me as a sedan would have taken the rock in the windshield.
Instinctively I found myself in fervent, grateful prayer. I know He cares. I also know He answers my prayers, and before both drives I did say an audible prayer for safety, which was clearly answered. For my, and my passenger’s welfare I am profoundly thankful.

Yet, what about the times the outcome isn’t so good? I’m not comfortable declaring that God cares less about those people, or it was His will that they crash. I think if that were really the case then drug dealers and pedophiles would have fatal crashes at significantly higher rates than absentminded teenagers and elderly grandparents.

I am comfortable acknowledging that He is much more interested in how we deal with life’s rolling rocks and screeching semis than asking why it happened. Why is usually an unanswerable question when talking metaphysics. “How” we should deal with it, that’s another story.

I think He is pleased when we draw closer to Him. When we acknowledge His presence and express gratitude for the blessings we have. And when we do experience life’s rocks, bumps and bruises that we not curse His lack of protection, but we put effort into seeing the blessings in all things.

I’ve been vividly blessed this week. In those blessings I’m grateful for the mechanic who checked my car before the trips. I’m grateful for the other drivers who were not driving in a manner that would challenge Newton’s Laws of Motion. I’m grateful for the opportunity to travel. I’m grateful for the time and effort that goes into our infrastructure. I’m grateful for quick thinking semi drivers that reacted in ways that prevented further damage. I’m grateful for seat belts, deep breathing, calming music, rational passengers, good weather, manageable sized falling rocks, strong minivan engineering, flowing traffic, the list goes on and on - believe me.

I do attribute all those blessings to Him, and as I feel that gratitude I can recognize His hand in my life. Even when bad things happen.

(But I prefer it when they don’t).