As I left my community last week for the Chapel, a little white car with a young woman driver came flying around me and cut me off. When the light at the intersection turned green, she pulled ahead a little and then stopped dead. I stayed back as I watched her jerk her steering wheel back and forth several times. Then she started again, stopped, and violently jerked her steering wheel a second time. There were cars behind us, but I managed to get around her. She followed me so closely that, not only could I not see her bumper, but I could barely see her head above the steering wheel! I began praying for God to intervene. Was this road rage being played out?
Eventually the girl tore around me and went flying up the Parkway. Just beyond the Publix complex entrance, she slammed on her brakes in the slow lane (the road has no shoulders) and got out of her car, looking back at me. I decided right then to drive to the police department. Because of Covid, the police department is closed to the public, but I was given a non-emergency number to call to ask for officer assistance. I called my friend at the Chapel to tell her I would be late and she prayed with me on the phone. I was so shaken and teary and scared! During the 20 minutes that I waited outside the building for the officer to arrive, I saw the little white car drive around and around the Publix complex looking for me, but she never got close enough for me to get a tag number or a good description of her and the car. Finally, the officer arrived and I explained my story. There was basically nothing he could do because I could give him no details other than the car was white. He was very kind, though, and he offered to lead me to the Chapel. I watched for the little white car, but luckily, I’ve never seen it again.
When I got inside the Chapel, my friend met me and we began to rehash the incident. She said something that really brought me up short: “I wonder what that girl’s morning has been like that she reacted the way she did.” I’m embarrassed to say that I’d not thought of that driver’s emotional state at all. I was so focused on my own safety and well-being that I hadn’t seen her as anything more than a rage-filled driver. Once my friend asked the question, I realized that this girl is someone that God lovingly created, and rather than pray for her, I prayed only for myself.
There’s a lesson for me in this story: In Matthew 5:44, Jesus says, “But I say to you, love your enemies. Pray for those who hurt you.” I realize now that I should have prayed not only for God to intervene, but also for the girl who was so filled with anger. I know it’s after the fact, but I have included her in my prayers each day since the incident. I’m also asking God to show me a different perspective…from the other person’s point of view…when I encounter situations that involve tension between two or more people. I sometimes tell God in my prayers that I need an attitude adjustment. Now I am asking Him to tell me when I need a shift in my focus…off myself and on to someone or something else.
To God be the glory!
Lynelle Jensen
Heavenly Father, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you: Look with compassion upon the heartfelt desires of your servants, and purify our disordered affections, that we may behold your eternal glory in the face of Christ Jesus; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(The Third Sunday in Lent, Anglican Book of Common Prayer)
