Talk About Lessons Learned

God never, ever ceases to amaze me. A month or so ago, I prayed about what I should use as the basis for this particular Tuesdays: in “other” words and the thing that kept coming to mind was this one: Caution: Road Slippery When Wet. Over and over the scenario of signs and accidents completely overshadowed every other idea I came up with. Finally, I settled on it.

Fast forward to weeks later and two days before the post should go up. We’re headed to a bible study. It’s raining. A driver, distracted by her cell phone, plows through a red light and slams into us. The Rotel cheese dip I made flew everywhere. A gift my sister brought me was covered in the cheesy goop. The car was smashed; it’s frame all bent. But… we were safe.

My sister was behind me and she had two of my boys in the car with her. They saw that the lady was coming and couldn’t stop so she stayed put. She couldn’t do anything but watch it strike us. It happened so fast. One person’s distraction causing someone else a great bit of chaos.

Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received a full knowledge of the truth, there is no other sacrifice that will cover these sins. Hebrews 10:26

We receive warning sign after warning sign in the bible of sins we should stay away from: lying, stealing, hypocrisy, jealousy, sexual immorality, unbelief, pride and murder, just to name a few. He tells us what will happen if we engage in these activities. He tells us to focus on Him and not to be distracted by things of this world. We can be doing pretty well on our journey too…

… and then something distracts us.

Sometimes the little distractions don’t seem to cause a problem so we continue to allow them on our journey. After a while, we are unaware of the potential hazards they could cause, especially when you throw in some unforeseen circumstances or a neglected necessity that you were told you should acquire.

Then… BAM!!!

All of a sudden those little distractions: the talk shows, the romance novels, the overspending, the binging & purging and the innocent flirting turn into something major: a full fledged sin. All of a sudden others are affected by it and you are left with the repercussions of your actions. Why? Because you did not heed the warning signs. You were too distracted to see them in His word.

On Sunday we were waiting in the turning lane behind two other cars. When the light turned green and the other cars went through we followed as we were supposed to. We were following the rules and yet we were affected by someone who wasn’t. Now she has to pay for that.

I felt bad for her. It was obvious that it wasn’t her intention to go out and get in a wreck. She was on the phone and missed the signs that were there for her protection and the protection of others. She also stated that she had been told time and time again to buy new tires because hers were old. She didn’t. She hit the brakes but could not stop at that point. It was too late to try to turn back then. It’s sad to think about when you realize that it could have all been avoided.

What have you been distracted by? What do you need to avoid? As of right now it isn’t too late.

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