Sometimes Accidents Take Planning

I started walking our dogs early in the morning this week because they're just not getting enough exercise.

Over the course of this week we have already established a pattern - a route. And today's walk was going swimmingly. There were less cars than normal blocking the sidewalk while parked in their driveways. There was some morning, lingering fogginess (much like I'd imagine you see quite often in the Smoky Mountains of the American Southeast). Our route takes us through the neighborhood to our south, out to a main road, East for a block to another main road, then North for a long block to our neighborhood's entrance. Then it's about a half mile back to our house. It's just about the right distance for me, and for the dogs.

I say our walk was going swimmingly because there was a 5 second portion of the walk that didn't. The northbound section on a busy road.

As we were walking north, at one point a small pickup was coming out of a business and was waiting for traffic to clear so they could turn right. They waited a long time. As we got close I noticed a break in traffic and I stopped with the two dogs to allow the truck to proceed. They chose not to. As traffic began to close in, and seeing that they had inched forward but decided to wait, I proceeded north in front of the truck. That's when they decided not to wait anymore!

Our dog Ziva had just cleared the bumper of the truck in front of me and Kensi had not quite made it to the bumper of the truck behind me when the truck began to accelerate. I had time to yell "Hey!" twice before I jumped up and lay on the hood with my legs hanging down in front of the grill! I started banging on the hood with my phone, yelling "Hey!" three more times. Thankfully, the driver stopped within 7-10 feet. When she stopped, I didn't. Fortunately, I landed on my feet, still holding the leashes of our dogs and my phone. I looked up at the driver and she was horrified, waving her hands in front of her face as if to fan herself, eyes as wide as could be. I told her I was fine, which I was, and immediately moved to get myself and the dogs out of the now stopped lanes of traffic (15 - 20 cars). I repeated to her that I was fine and continued my walk. She left, and the traffic started to continue on. Except a school bus that had stopped. They sat there, holding up traffic, until I had walked past the door of the school bus.

My life didn't flash before my eyes. I didn't panic. In fact, my lifetime of playing out deadly scenarios in my mind (am I the only one that does this?) may have saved my life. Why did I jump on their hood? Because I had played out this exact situation in my mind before. Many times.

What happened to the terrified driver? She actually made a u-turn and tracked me down in my neighborhood to, once again, make sure I was fine. I am. I truly am.

I'm not sure if I have been assigned a guardian angel, but I know that God has sent out angels to "serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation." (Hebrews 1:14) They ministered a lot to me today.

Accidents happen. Don't take your time with people for granted. Today could have been a much different day for my family. Praise Jesus it was not. And if you don't know Jesus, ask a friend who does or read the Bible - it's God's Word to us.

Panic! at the Disco

I'm not prone to panic. And I haven't been to too many discos. But one thing that always induces panic in me is...visiting a government office for something I need. Jury duty, renewing your license, that kind of thing. Today was one of those days. You see, we moved recently to Louisiana. And today I have to go get our vehicles registered. I poured over the website to find out the process. It was no help at all. Why don't states have tabs at the top of their websites that say "New to (insert state name here)?" Then they can give you step-by-step guides to how their state works. "Need electricity (who doesn't), click here". "Here's what you need to get your driver's license".  Doesn't seem that hard, but nobody does it. Today I couldn't find the registration for my truck and it sent me over the edge. "Why isn't it in my glove box?" I have no idea. That said, here's why we panic when dealing with the government. They hold all the power and they often make stupid little rules that try to solve one tiny problem, but create dozens of new ones. And they have long lines. Because the citizenry HAS to go to them. If we don't, they have the power to fine us and potentially jail us. It rarely goes that far, but the threat is enough to make people government-averse. We need to find a way to make the government work like, yes, Chick-Fil-A. Or even In-N-Out. Fast, efficient service with a smile. And while we're at it, let's have all the DMV heads from the 50 states get together and figure out a system that's the same across the nation. Yeah, that would be nice.