Give em a brake

It happened last night. I mean it happens to everyone at some point or another. Sometimes you know it is coming. Other times it comes out of nowhere. This was probably a little of both I guess. I just saw the signs too late. There I was, the next car to turn in what has become one of the busiest intersections in Boulder (with a little help from a mess of road construction, and the fact that it was about 6:00pm) when all of a sudden my dash lights start to blink and my car began to sputter. I was hoping the guy in front of me would hurry to turn so I could follow him and quickly get out of the intersection, but I guess he didn't feel the same urgency. After trying to keep my car from rolling with the emergency brake while keeping the car revved up and the clutch held in (which is all a little tough on a hill in a manual transmission, with one hand out of commission in a cast) you guessed it, it died. And it wasn't going to start again no matter how much I wanted it too.

I don't know if you have ever seen that commercial where the guy tries to pay for his food with cash rather than a credit card like everybody else and the whole place goes out of whack, but that came to mind for me at this point. Cars begin honking, tempers begin to raise, and I begin receiving the nicest looks ever, you know the kind that really make your day. Needless to say I called my wife who was in another town at the time to come and tow me out of this situation with our other car. A humiliating hour later we had pulled my car three blocks away to my home.

After reading some from the Bible this morning I was reminded of so many things I can learn from this wonderful experience. One, interruptions happen all the time, and it is not as much of what has happened as much as it is how am I going to react and what am I going to do with it. Another, was the fact that Jesus was always stopping to help people, people and situations that were not written into the day planner. In the hour that I was sitting helplessly in the intersection only one guy stopped to help. One out of hundreds that passed by. It really got me to thinking how many people I ignored because I, "didn't have time", or I "had to be somewhere", or "I just wanted to get home." Him offering help meant the world to me, and I want to share God's love and care with others in the same way. So thanks Julie for helping me out. Thanks you too, whoever you are, the one guy who stopped. And may this be a reminder to me to take advantage of interruptions that God allows in my journey, because I know I have many more to look forward to. I think I will close out this post with some words from Bleach.

Code of the Road

Just suppose this old car sputtered down the road...Just suppose
this old car--It refused to go...Wouldn't you hope that someone
would care enough to stop...And help you out...I'd like to think
that someone would take the time to stop...And help you out ~
It's the code, it's the code it's the Code of the Road...It's the
code, it's the Code of the Road...On the side of the road maybe
you'd like to know...A Hand is there, a Hand that cares...It's
the Code of the Road ~ Don't you know--everyone breaks down along
the road...Don't you know--everybody hurts along the road...
Wouldn't you hope that someone would care enough to stop...And
help you out...I'd like to think that someone would care enough
to stop...And help you out ~ In my weakness, Jesus cared enough
to stop...And help me out.

More reading on this topic.