Scenes From My Weekend

Scenes From My Weekend @ Bigger Picture Blogs

I have been looking forward to this weekend when I could make a run to Texas to pick up Daughter #2 for Spring Break.  We knew we could get away from Georgetown about 1:30 Friday afternoon and hoped that would get us through Fort Worth before traffic got to its worst.

I35 from Austin through Fort Worth is a deathtrap.  We have been making this trip for two years and in that time have come across three fatality accidents as well as countless less serious ones.  We make about six round trips through here every school year.  Over the course of a college education, the odds were telling me that at some point we would be involved in an accident along this stretch of highway.  Friday was our day.

The traffic was stop and go as it often is.  We were stopped while the truck behind us was still in go mode.  He hit us; the impact caused us to rear end the stopped car in front of us.  I saw the look of horror cross my daughter’s face as she saw the truck coming from behind.  The initial hit was jarring, allowing just a moment to feel the dread of the oncoming crash into the second car.

I said a quick prayer of thanksgiving that everyone involved appeared uninjured and pushed images of other vehicles I have seen alongside this highway out of my head.  I stepped outside the van prepared to see the worst.  Instead I had a there, but for the grace of God, go I moment.  The van didn’t look like all those other cars I had seen, none of our cars did.  Our cars didn’t look like the crash had been a highway crash at all.

I have a theory when I am protected from something that might have been a whole lot worse.  I think it means that I have not yet finished what God has planned for me to do here.  Friday reminded me to be still and listen; the same lesson was repeated in the sermon at church on Sunday.  To be honest, I will need to be reminded many more times again.  This is not my strong suit. Be still and listen.

The impact transferred letters from the rear vehicle’s license plate onto our bumper.

Not much damage considering we were the creamy center of a Honda sandwich.

As we wound our way from the frontage road where we stopped back towards the highway we saw this faded beauty and had to go check it out.  In another reminder of grace, we noticed that someone is lovingly restoring it.

Safely back home we were delighted to discover more drought busting moisture!

Saturday evening the whole family baked an assortment of treats for the youth group bake sale to raise money for their mission trip to Orlando this summer.

Then we built a fire, watched a movie and played a game or two.

The weekend ended much better than it started.  It was quiet and peaceful; and I stayed still and listened.