Accident

Here’s a story of my last few days. Bear in mind that we always think in terms of our experiences, and I’m no different. My experiences growing up in Indiana shaped a lot of the assumptions I made in this situation. That being said…

The other day, I was parked next to a rather large truck (think mini-semi). So I was having difficulty seeing behind me. I happened to have a guy with me though. From what I could see, there was a tan colored car stopped far enough back that I had plenty of room to back out. He had his hazard lights on. The guy with me said “He is signaling for you to back out; he wants your spot.” I then proceeded to back out. I heard some honking. Didn’t think anything of it and started to drive away.

Suddenly, a green car comes flying up next to me and the guy is yelling at me to pull over. He keeps swerving over and almost hitting me. I’m thinking that I must have cut this guy off and he’s ticked and wants to fight. There’s no way I’m pulling over. Finally, the guy I’m riding with explains that apparently I hit this guy and that I should pull over to talk.

I pull over and suddenly a huge crowd forms around us. So much yelling and talking in a language I can’t understand. Finally, the guy (David) tells me to follow him to a place we can talk. We go there but four other guys hop into his car. I’m thinking they’re friends of his and quickly trying to work out what I’m going to do if they want to fight.

Finally we pull over on this side street, into a dirt parking lot. As we get out, David and his four “friends” talk. Then he tells me that we can either get the police involved or “someone must work on my car.” I call Dan because I figure he has a better idea of what to do in this situation and also it’s his vehicle. He tells me to take it and just get it fixed if I can.

I know where the mechanic is that Dan and Regina use so I ask if we can go there. He agrees and hops in his vehicle and I in mine. Then his four friends come over to my truck and tell me “You give us money, or we go to the police.” This starts to make me a little bit angry. So I say “I have no money to give you.” Then they tell me they are going to go to the police. I hop out of my truck and tell David “These guys say that if I don’t pay them, they will go to the police. I have no money to give them so should you and I just go to the police together?” I made sure the four guys heard me say this and understood I wasn’t afraid of their threat. David responds “I have nothing to do with these guys. You just follow me.” Reminds me of Jesus words.

When I get back to my truck the guys say again “you give us three hundred thousand or we go to the police.” (three hundred thousand is equivalent to $60 and there’s no way I’m giving them anything; I don’t respond to bribes or blackmail). At this point I’m really irritated with them so I say “Right now you are trying to take advantage of someone who just had an accident and is a bit frazzled. What you are doing is rude, inconsiderate, and wrong.” And I drove off with them still threatening.

We got to the mechanic and came to an agreement. He has Job (the mechanic) fix his car and Job will send me the bill. Unfortunately, he won’t be able to fix it until tomorrow or Tuesday and also I still don’t know how much it’s going to cost. To top it all off, my atm card isn’t working right now for some reason. I really feel like the Lord is involved in this though so I’m not worried.

This guy I hit, David, is really cool, by the way. He’s constantly asking me how I’m doing or how’s work or how my day is. The other day he gave me and a friend a ride home to save us from walking in the rain. He’s a follower of Jesus, though, and those people are usually the coolest =)

I’ve learned through this whole mess that I really do trust the Lord. I can not see at all how He is working in this but I just feel a lot of peace and trust in this situation. I know, I mean really know, that He “works all things for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose.”