WHEN IT'S A DAY YOU "WOULDN'T HAVE SIGNED UP FOR"

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)

A few hours ago, I posted the following paragraph on Facebook:.

MINOR CAR ACCIDENT THIS MORNING! A person hurrying to get to work hit my Subaru with her SUV right in front of my daughter and son's residence. Bottom line: right now I have NO driver side door window. The "bang" was loud, fast and scary. Tempered glass was all over the street. Thank God I had only 2 minor cuts on my hand. The other driver is paying to have the window replaced. Right now I have instant winter A/C! Ironically, I was briefly stopping at my kids' place, then on the way to a Dr. appt. for a blood pressure check. Of COURSE my B.P. was up after that!! Honestly, this leaves me kind of "shaken up" but it COULD have been many times worse!.

Yes, it could have been many times worse. And, I certainly have not received horrendous news such as Curt Schilling's announcement that he has cancer. Yet, in the midst of a lot of the "stuff of life" I've been dealing with, this is one more thing. I couldn't help but think that if I'd started to open my car door about twenty seconds earlier or about fifteen seconds later, probably nothing would have happened today. I'd spent last night at my kids' apartment due to the weather. It also made a lot more sense to stay there for the night, in that I had that doctor appointment in Framingham this morning. I'm unable to park the car outside my kids' residence as it's an urban neighborhood and "parking is at a premium" as my late father used to say. I left my car at the TDBank parking lot about a mile away. (The company I work for has an agreement with TDBank and we're allowed to park in that lot.) The first couple hours of my day today frankly did not go well (prior to the car accident!). I won't go into detail, but there were a lot of inconveniences and my patience was really being tried. I will say that I remained calm which is not something I would have done twenty years ago! I guess it was vanity, but I just did not want to go to my doctor appointment wearing my big, ugly winter boots! I especially did not want to step on the scale in those things. I glanced at my watch and realized I did have enough time to drive back to the apartment, get my sneakers, and drive to the appointment. Yes, that's why I was opening my door in front of my kids' residence at five minutes before nine this morning. The instant after that happened, I felt very bad and thought, "WHY did I have to get my sneakers and WHY couldn't I just have worn my winter boots?!"

I will say, it is a great blessing that the female driver of the SUV stopped! At first, I figured she would just drive away and leave me in my predicament! It is also a great blessing that she was very nice. There was no swearing out of her, and no hostility. We exchanged information, and she immediately called her mechanic; agreeing to pay for the damages and have a new window installed. I went to his shop today and met him. He seems to be a very nice guy and he has ordered the new window. Each are Hispanic. I would never have met these folks if this accident had not happened today. A few hours after the accident I phoned the woman who'd hit me and left a message on her voicemail. I told her I'd been to her mechanic's shop, and I told her I very much appreciated that she stopped this morning and did not just drive off.

I won't go into the details, but to use my late mother's expression, I "have a pretty full plate" in life right now. Part of me wonders, "God, why did this happen?" I know better. I know that life has its ups and downs. Everybody has problems. Everybody has "bad days". Yes, I know better; but deep down in my gut there is that nagging question, "God, why did this happen?" As I wrote, I met these two nice people and maybe that is part of why.

I've learned a lot from my friend Gene Sorbo over the past couple of years. He and his family have faced many serious difficulties. Yet, he is an amazingly positive and upbeat guy. And, he's very genuine. Gene has said that the difficulties he has faced are things that, "I would not have signed up for". Yet, he recognizes that God has used each challenge in his life for good. He's a great teacher and mentor, and I think a lot of the reason he's so good at that stuff is he has the "track record" of having faced great personal difficulties and persevered in his walk with God. SO, I'm standing on Romans 8:28 today. And I'm really glad that other than a couple minor cuts on my hand, and other than the aggravation of having your driver side window instantly shatter with a loud bang (followed by all that goes with an incident like that), I'm really fine and things are going to be O.K.