I love my 2013 Hyundai Tucson, which we bought new. It has 112,000 miles and has needed no major repairs. Until a recent beautiful summer day here in Martinez, California.
I was driving on the highway in the right lane, approaching the exit lane to my right. I signaled and looked to the right. It appeared to be clear, so I started to switch lanes. Suddenly I felt a loud thump on the right side of my car. I thought I had blown a tire. But a car pulled up alongside me and the driver asked me to pull off at the next exit.
I obliged and discovered that the right side of my car was damaged across all the panels. The other driver’s car was scratched on the driver’s-side door. I was upset, as I couldn’t imagine I had done anything wrong. I thought he had plowed into me. So, as we began to discuss the incident, we each accused the other of causing the accident.
Crash Scene Convo
However, as I listened to him more closely, I realized what had happened. He had just entered the freeway on-ramp as I was about to move over to that lane, the same one he was in. Through no fault of his own, he was perfectly positioned in my blind spot. He saw my signal and honked his horn, but I didn’t hear it because I was enjoying a blues song from the Rolling Stones album Exile on Main Street on my car stereo (if you are questioning my choice of music as a Christian, please read my previous essay). Moments before the accident, I had turned up the volume. That’s why I never heard the horn (note to self: Don’t crank up the volume.)
I know people say to never admit fault in an auto accident. But I knew I was wrong, and there was no question in my mind that my insurance company would rule the same (and they did). So, I apologized to the other driver for the accident and for interrupting his Saturday afternoon. After we exchanged auto insurance and driver’s license information, we shook hands and left on good terms.
What If . . .
When I got home, I realized that I was wearing my church’s softball team shirt, which reads in very large letters on the front, CREEKSIDE CHURCH. I thought, what if I had blown my top with the other driver and continued to try to blame him for the accident? I would have given him a poor picture of a Christian. But now he might make the connection between how I comported myself and my faith.
Oh, and about my beloved Hyundai Tucson. It doesn’t take much to total a thirteen-year-old car. We have taken very good care of it, but its value has dropped to about $6,000. The estimated repair cost was over that threshold, meaning it is considered a total loss. So, my insurance company paid me for the car, which they acquired and will send to salvage.
I did have to pay the $500 deductible for the accident. I prayed that the Lord might make up for that $500 (like when Peter needed the temple tax money, and Jesus provided it inside a fish [Matthew 17:24-27]). And lo and behold, when we went to purchase our new car, a Hyundai Venue, the dealer gave us their $500 discount on the purchase.
A Happy Ending
After the insurance company bought out our old car, we bought the Venue. There are several advantages. If our old car had been repairable, it would have been well beyond its 10- year or 100,000-mile drivetrain warranty. If our transmission had failed, for example, we would have borne the cost. Now we have a brand-new warranty. And the Venue, smaller than the Tucson, is better suited to our retired life, as my wife and I are the only ones using the car, except when we have our granddaughter over for visits. The Venue is the same color grey as our Tucson but gets better mileage. It looks like a mini version of our Tucson.
I experienced this as another validation of Romans 8:28, “for those who love God all things work together for good.” More importantly, through the presence of God’s Holy Spirit in my life, I hope I have, in some measure, fulfilled the exhortation of James 1:19: “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
And this verse sums it up: “Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit” (Ecclesiastes 7:8).
Photo by Clark Van Der Beken on Unsplash
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