It's been an interesting month with a couple of thought provoking things that have happened....
Three or so weeks ago, I was on my way to visit my sis in law (I was by myself). I had come to an intersection of a highway and was getting ready to pull out and take a left. There was a bridge on my left and a long stretch of road on my right. In front of me, just across the street was a 20 foot or so embankment. I glanced to my left and saw that there was a white suburban type of SUV just coming up to the bridge. They were not going very fast and I knew I could pull out and make it into my lane safely. I leaned forward and looked to my right and did not see any cars. I went to go press on my gas petal to pull out and my leg literally felt like lead and I felt a jolt of a non audible 'DONT' inside my head. As I looked down at my leg to see why it wouldn't move, I heard the sound of a very fast moving vehicle. I looked up just in time to see a truck pass in front of me, in the lane I was getting ready to turn into, traveling at a high rate of speed. I must have sat at the intersection for 2-3 minutes trying to figure out how I missed seeing the truck. Honestly, I have never had anything like this happen before. I put together that, in the almost 3 years I have owned my car (Nissan Rogue), I have never noticed that if my car is angled just right, the passenger side head rest mixed with the way the wrap is on my back window leading to the passenger side back door, there is a perfect blind spot. My car was positioned just right for that blind spot to be a 'blind spot' when I pulled up to the stop sign to make the turn. After processing the blind spot, I thanked God for His protection and thanked him that my son, who is a firefighter in the area and was on shift that day, did not have to respond to a call involving his mom. I also thanked God that the speeding truck was able to safely travel to where he was going. It was a sobering moment and quite frankly, it's still a sobering moment (it was hard to even type out the story in this post). It seems like, what's most important to take away from this is how, in an instant, our life can change. As much as we don't want to think about it, it's a fact. I can't imagine doing this life without Jesus, His hope that no matter what, He is with us, His presence, His peace, and the promise of Heaven when our life here is over.
Two weeks later, I was driving home from an event. I was a couple of miles from my house and I see what looks like a woman curled up in the fetal position at the end of a gravel driveway. I slowed down and drove past her really slow. I will never be one of those people who can just drive by this type of situation and not stop. If I think someone needs help, I'm a big believer that you stop and help if you can. I rolled down my window and asked her if everything was ok- she was very upset and said that she felt like her hands were frozen but her body felt like it was on fire. She also said she was thirsty and had a really bad headache and asked if I would call for help. I pulled my car off of the road just past where she was laying so I could call 911 and give her some water. Nissan Rogue's have hatch back type of trunks. The bottled water I was getting her was in my trunk area. As I was leaning into the trunk area to grab the water, I hear a motorhome door slam and a man start yelling, 'get up Cheryl, GET UP! you're fine!' I had noticed the motorhome sitting 30 or so feet back down the gravel driveway from where the woman was laying. I thought it was abandoned so didn't think much of it. While the man was walking towards 'Cheryl' and I, he undid the belt off of his shorts, which made his shorts sag so low it was awkward. When I looked directly at him, trying to get a quick assessment of what was going on, I could tell he was not in his right mind. From his reaction and from her reaction, it was apparent that she was having some sort of reaction to drugs and he was high. As he got closer to us, he threw his water bottle down at her and insisted that she get up. I was talking to 911 on the phone (ambulance had already been called and was almost on scene) and was beginning to feel really uncomfortable with the man (we exchanged 'words' after the 911 call). A white truck was just passing by us, going very slow, and I flagged them down and told them to wait until help arrived (yay! for others who are willing to stop and not drive on by)- I wanted some help if the guy began to get out of control. First responders arrived and I jumped in my car and left. The people sitting in the white truck also left. When it was all over, I found myself pondering for days why people do drugs. My heart was so sad for this couple and the life they were living. She was completely miserable (from whatever she had taken) but statistically, she would get out of the hospital and go right back to using. She doesn't realize how precious her life is and that she is wonderfully created by our Almighty God. Drug addictions are heartbreaking. absolutely heartbreaking.
If I could do it over, I would have pulled up next to the woman, called 911 for her, and stayed in my car with my window down talking to her and reassuring her- not because I didn't want to help her but because it doesn't seem like it was a safe decision on my part to get out (due to the man coming out of the motorhome).
It's not in my nature to back down from confrontation and I'm a natural protector of the underdog, so, when the man came out yelling at Cheryl I stood up to him verbally. It did no good, he wasn't even in his right mind and his responses were not logical. Ignoring him would have probably been best (or verbally sparing from my car where I could roll up my window...I don't know, this just seems cowardly :)-
There you go, now you know a few things that have been going on in my mind. Not a super fun blog post to write but it's real.
