One day, I was on my way to work. It was an early winter morning, which meant it was still fairly dark outside. As I exited the off-ramp, in the left-turn lane, I approached a car with its left signal blinking. However, the closer I got to the car, the more perplexed I became. I quickly switched lanes once I realized...the car was not moving. After I made my left turn, jovially headed to work I felt a level of conviction. I felt compelled to inform the driver about their missing hazard light. I mean after all, I'm late to work most days of the week, why break the streak today? So, with little reluctance, I made a swift U-turn.
When getting back to the scene, I parked my car a ways up from the off-ramp, a few meters from the right-turn exit lane. I turned on my hazards and darted back toward the stalled station wagon. As I was running, oblivious to anything but the copper colored car in front of me, another car exited the right-turn ramp and came to an abrupt stop. Why? Because I was jogging across the street paying no attention to the fact that I was crossing the right turn lane of an off-ramp!
That car was close enough to me that my fingertips brushed against its warm hood. Without breaking stride, I waved my hand and yelled a quick "My bad!" so that I could get over to this car. They yelled an early morning expletive that I had no time to entertain and sped on their angry way.
When I reached the stalled car, I found an older lady sitting there with her interior light on reading. I tapped on the window and said, "Only one of your hazards is working, so it looks like you are about to actually turn left."
As if a light bulb had gone off over her head, she responded, "I wondered why people were getting so close to this car before they switched over to that other lane." Waving her hand and shaking her head, she closed her book and said, "I thought it was just because it's early, and people ain't all the way right when it's early." We both laughed and then racked our brains for a quick second to devise a plan.
She had no flares, no cones, and no flashlight. It was cold out and she drove a station wagon, so lifting her trunk was a terrible idea. We finally settled on raising her hood. The sun was starting to peak over the horizon, so we had faith that would do the trick for the next wave of cars to exit until her nephew arrived. She said she was glad she charged her cell phone the night before or she wouldn't have known what to do. I agreed. I asked her if she wanted to wait in my car so that she could be out of harms way with late-to-work morning commuters potentially speeding off that ramp. She refused and told me to get my "little tail" to work. We both laughed some more. She thanked me. I thanked her. And we parted ways.
Later in my car, I thought about how close that other car had gotten to me as I running to her. I thought about the fact that I literally could have been hit by a car...but God! With that came this thought: When we are about God's business and obedient to the directions He gives us, nothing can stop us from reaching our goals. When we make a choice to do what we feel Him telling us to do, and block out all other noise and distractions, we are focused on His mission. Doing His work when He says is a sure bet to protection from hurt, harm, and danger. It won't always be easy or pleasant (because it was colder than a polar bear's toe nails that morning), but God says in His word, "Touch not my anointed." (Psalm 105:15) When He anoints us to do anything, small or large, nothing can stop us. Be blessed. XOXOX
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