Your Response Under Pressure…

The day was a quite productive day . I did the lawn. The kids and I did a bible study at the library. We cleaned the house as a team. We were wrapping up our day of chores with some fun, headed to Main Event because on Monday you can do all the games for around 10 bucks.  

Before we left the house, my son asked if he could practice driving by driving on our road over to his friends house. I said, ” No. ” 

He said, “Mom, you are only saying no because of the dream you had about a car accident. ” 

” You’re right Slade.” Within 3 minutes of that conversation, we would be in a car accident. 

We picked up my son’s friend, and we thought we would stop by Subway before we headed to Main Event. 

We were waiting on the highway, ready to turn into the subway parking lot, ( no turning lane) when I looked in my rear-view mirror and I saw a silver bullet at high speeds coming towards us. I said, ” Oh no, He’s not going to stop.” I honked the horn three times. I had no time to think of pushing the gas when BAMMMM we were hit super hard and our Acadia catapulted forward. 

 After being stunned, I asked the kids, ” Is everyone okay?” Everyone said in unison they were all okay. 

I said, ” Everyone praise Jesus…put your hands up and praise… I mean it put your hands up and thank him we are alive.” 

I don’t know what came out of my mouth other than praise that we were all okay and alive. 

I was kind of outside my body at that point, shocked, a little dizzy and heart beating hard in my chest. I was having a hard time thinking of what to do next, even considering getting out of the vehicle in the middle of the road. I soon realized that I needed to see if my car could drive and get off the main highway. 

The car made some weird sounds, but I made it to the dirt on the side of the road not far from the entrance into the Subway parking lot. About this time a nice young man came over and asked if everyone in our car was okay. I said, “Yes, but what about the other people.” 

When I looked over towards what used to be a silver SUV, I feared the worst, even fearing that someone could be dead. I mean his car was messed up.  What I later found out was an Isuzu had crumbled up like a piece of tin foil, both air bags were deployed  splattered with blood. What was crazy is that he hit us so hard that his battery flew out of the engine and was sitting on the black pavement. 

The nice man said that there was only one guy in the other car, and he is fine.  All I could think about was wanting to cross the road and go over to the man who hit us and hug him.   I looked back towards the crumbled silver bullet  and saw the man who hit us. He had blood all over one arm. I was thinking, best not to hug anyone with blood all over them. 

So I jumped out of my car to go get a first aid kit out of back of my SUV when I realized  that I could not open the back because it was seriously crushed in with the tail pipe dragging. The back right had crushed so far into the back right wheel and the passenger back door was hard to open as the frame was bent. 

I then told my 8 year old daughter to unlatch and crawl in the back to get the first aid kit. The witness and good Samaritan took my first aid kit over to the man who had hit us and before the paramedics, firefighters or police arrived, he was bandaged up. 

After he was bandaged up he walked over toward us. I said ” Can I hug you, I’m just so glad you’re okay. ”  He seemed stunned by my reaction and a little bewildered by the hug but engaged anyway. 

He said, ” Do you have a child in the car. ” I said, ” No, I have 3 in the car. ” 

He shook his head in disbelief at the thought that he could have hurt or killed three children, saying, ” Oh my gosh…oh my gosh. You know I’m so sorry. I have 6 kids myself.” 

With firefighters around us, I gathered the kids, and we stood in a circle and prayed a prayer of thanksgiving again, thanking Jesus for saving our lives. There are so many ways this could have gone wrong, especially with him hitting us going about 55 mph. 

Firefighters soon swarmed around us. They had clip boards in hand and were asking names and ages of kids, our addresses etc. I was surprised that I could locate any information in my brain being so rattled. It was 110 degrees that day, and I was light headed. 

I even seemed to stammer over my own age and information. I really should have been sitting down and not trying to think in the scorching heat.

I  must have sounded like a broken record because I kept saying, “I’m so glad that man is alive. I’m so glad he’s alive. ” 

At one point a firefighter said, ” Mam, we are just glad you and the kids are alive. ” 

I said, ” We are fine… but I can tell you that I do not want to be part of any ones death while I walk on this earth…regardless if it’s my fault or not. ” 

It wasn’t long that a super direct  and a little jaded police officer came over to deliver bad news. He really seemed t-off at the fact that the driver that hit me didn’t have insurance or a drivers license. I felt that Satan was trying to poke the bear, see if he could get me off center, maybe get me to replace that unconditional love for anger or even fear. 

As the officer told me my insurance was going up yada yada…my thoughts were thinking about the man who hit me. I was thinking if he doesn’t have insurance, chances are he’s struggling financially. I wonder if he will be able to afford a new car. 

I got a chance to hug him again and tell him, I’m so glad that you can still be a daddy to your children. I think he felt guilt for looking for his cell phone, not wanting to be around us much since he was in the wrong.

His response was awkwardness, a lot of pacing and taking some whiffs off of a cigarette, but I could see that he was processing. He was probably worried that he was going to get in trouble being an uninsured driver with no license…who knows what was going through his head. I know he was seriously thrown around too. 

Recently, when I was reading the bible there was a passage that basically said that when you are squeezed or stressed, what comes forth is a true indicator or evidence of where you are in your walk- a test of faith so to speak. 

You know when we are stressed out or under high pressure like I was in the accident, we have two ways to react…we can react in love or in anger…or even compassion or judgment. You know we either spew either lemon or lemonade. 

When my brother in law was in a car accident, someone hit him and his car hit someone else. The man his car hit, jumped out of the car and cussed him out, and  it was not even my brother in law’s fault. It’s so true that when you are in stressful times, out of the heart flows something…. which really is a good indicator of our true spiritual state.  

When this accident happened, it was quite interesting all of peoples comments. There was a lot comments about the guy not having insurance even wanting him to be arrested.  I had one person mention suing the poor guy that hit me. People in general were ready to condemn, chain or punish. 

Come on…we’ve all been stupid with our cell phones. Every single one of us mess up, make mistakes.  The comments are probably  indicators that we all need to work on our hearts. Why are we so quick to judge, convict and condemn, yet we want grace? 

 I really felt happy about my reaction. I feel like my reaction was similar to what Jesus’s would have been if he had been in a wreck. I believe he would be concerned for others, helpful, reassuring, not angry but demonstrating compassion and love. This reaction is far better than my reaction with a fender bender when I was in High School. I’ve come a long way baby….in those days I called someone an idiot when they hit my bumper- not my finest hour, but I was immature in more ways than one.  I am thankful for the Holy Spirits work on me.

We are called to love, called to love our brothers and sisters regardless. We are required to pardon others of their trespasses, just as we have been pardoned time and time again, covered by our precious Messiah’s blood.   We must bless those who persecute or hate us. We have to be more than, not less than. 

Yes, some days this is easier than other days, but we must be intentional about overcoming ourselves- overcoming that carnal sinful and selfish nature.  Believers, we are called to let our light shine. It’s vital that we not ” defame or shame the family name” with bad behavior or bad responses. It is imperative that we represent the body of believers by our good behavior, and acts of love and kindness. 

We were protected on July 23, 2018, which crazy enough would have been my deceased Dad’s 70th birthday. I am so thankful to the Father for protecting all of us. We are all doing good, just getting some Chiropractic care for some whiplash residue but nothing big. It’s unbelievable that my vehicle had over $30,000 in damage. The good news is that they gave me more than I owed , and  I went back to a Tahoe which I had been missing anyway. I kept my last Tahoe for 13 years…

Reflection: 

1. What comes out when you are stressed or emotionally prodded ? ( venom or love? )
2. Write a list of people you are irritated or angry with… and then do the unthinkable: Pray for them and bless them. 
3. What can you do to be more than yourself, going beyond to love- even the unlovable? 
4. Do you owe anyone an apology for an outburst or bad text/email/post? 

Scriptures: 

Yahshua said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).

He also said, “Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (Luke 6:27–28).

⁸ Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. ⁹ Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. ¹⁰ For,

Health Tip:

Castor Oil gets rid of warts. Put some on a small band-aid and put on the wart. My daughters went away fast when other things like duct tape and getting it frozen off didn’t work.