Skip to main content

what doesn't happen



a few weeks ago i was driving down the highway at about 75 mph (if you are part of law enforcement and you are reading this, please read 75 as 65, you know, artistic license and all), and i was all safe and secure inside my 2000 mazda protege. zoom zoom. when out of nowhere, this bolt comes kicking off the road in front of me, from under the tires of whatever vehicle i was behind, and i see it rise up in the air and then return to earth with on a forceful arch, coming right at me. i flinched out of the way as if my windshield didn't even exist and the metal might hit me in the face, but as it hit the windshield i quickly realized that this was going to mean a costly repair, at the very least. but amazingly, although it hit the windshield with cataclysmic pop, it did no damage to my car. it just rolled down the windshield and onto my wiper blade. and it just sat there. for the duration of my trip. when i got home i pulled it off and took it inside, resolved to keep it as a reminder of just how many accidents i am so close to having all the time. when i drive. when i cross the street. when i forget to wash my hands. when my son rides his scooter down the driveway. when i mow the lawn with my sandals on. and so on and so forth. accidents are all around us and we just barely miss them. they could come crashing down on us on a forceful arch, but, by the grace of God, we survive most of these unscathed. not always. sometimes life hits us hard and the windshields break. and we have to learn and grow through those moments. but we should also appreciate all the accidents we don't have. we should give thanks each time we get out of our car and each time we get out of bed and each time we get out of another day with all our limbs and all our children and all our capacities to say "thank you." so, today, be thankful. and watch out for falling hardware.

Comments

Crafty P said…
yikes! that's why God gave us guardian angels. My kid's angels work serious OVERTIME!!!!
RedBank Billy said…
Holy Moly!!! That could have been a
real mess!! Glad the angels were watching you!!
Cindy said…
Do you remember the Amy Grant song that was about this very topic, it was always one of my favorites, but you already knew that. I think about that quite often though about how many things could go wrong and don't. Yes the ones that do are bad but wow God loves us and protects us how cool is that!
Greg C said…
Of course your story reminds me of that old Dire Straits song: Sometimes you're the windshield
Sometimes you are the bug
Sometimes you're the Louisville Slugger, baby
Sometimes your the ball...

Popular posts from this blog

bad haircuts (for a laugh)

everybody needs to laugh.  one good way i have found to make that happen is to do a simple google image search for 'bad haircut.'  when you do so, some of the following gems show up.  thankfully, my 9th grade school picture does NOT show up.  otherwise, it would certianly make this list!  please laugh freely and without inhibition.  thank you and have a nice day. 

happiness is dry underwear

we started potty training jack on thursday. we followed a program called POTTY TRAIN IN ONE DAY, which, by the way, i think is kind of crazy. i mean, if someone were to offer you a book called, "ACHIEVE WORLD PEACE IN ONE DAY" i don't think you would take it seriously. and yet here we are, trying to accomplish an equally daunting task in one 24-hour period. it is intense. the day is shrouded in a lie because as soon as your happily diapered child wakes up you tell him that it is a big party. we had balloons and streamers and noisemakers and silly string - all the trappings of a legitimate party. but it is most certainly not a party. it is a hellishly exhausting day. as soon as jack got out of bed, we gave him a present: an anatomically correct doll that wets himself. jack named him quincy. several times quincy successfully peed in the potty and even had an accident or two in his "big boy underwear." he also dropped a deuce that looked and smelled sus

the crucifixion of Robert Lewis

  "the crucifixion of Robert Lewis" mixed media collage with leaves, acrylic paint, and found objects by gregory a milinovich october 2023 this october i was invited to participate in a three day trip which was called a "pilgrimage of pain and hope."  while that may not sound super exciting to many of you, it actually really intrigued me.  i am the kind of person that wants to feel big feelings, and i am drawn to the deep places, so  i was interested in traveling to the scranton area, where the trip was planned, to see what it might look like to be a pilgrim that was wide-eyed and listening to the pain and the hope in the stories of others.   this trip included hearing the stories of immigrants to the northeastern pennsylvania area, and the work in the coal mines that many of them did.  it included hearing from folks who are working for housing justice and equity in downtown scranton.  it included hearing from those indigenous people who first inhabited that land.