This is the Reason

Hey guys! I'm back! And I want to apologize for that long and uncalled for absence.
But I've brought back a story or two from my disappearance. Last night I was in the car, headed home after several days down South. Lil' brother and I were in the back seat, engrossed in the world of Duck Dynasty. Big brother was tired, driving in the dark, in a traffic jam.
Have you ever been rear-ended by a semi? Well. I have.
It was a fairly gentle rear-ending episode, if there is such a thing. Just a jolt and two scratched up dents on the back of the car.

 

But a semi hit us. After a second of silent shock, we pulled off the interstate and waited for the semi to do the same. But the driver either assumed that bump was the weight of the two trailers behind jolting to a stop... or maybe the driver was in a particularly frustrated hurry. So we scribbled down the license number and called the police. We'd been driving for the entire day, and I had some pressing matters to attend to at home. Big brother was all worked up about the semi driver who'd left us without apologizing.
Our situation was less than ideal.
Mom and I kept talking about the positive side of our situation: no one was hurt, the car was barely dented, maybe the driver didn't even know what had happened!
But let's face it. None of us wanted to be in that situation God had dropped us into.

It seemed like forever before the police car came, but as soon as it pulled up behind us I twisted around in my seat to look.
Crunch.
I whirled around again and looked to my left, where the traffic was still playing stop-and-go. A car had just run into the back of an old CR-V not 50 feet away. And the car's hood was all crunched up and smoking in the dim light.
I could barely contain my excitement - did you see that? This is crazy! The state trooper is already here and everything!
The state trooper glanced into our open window as he walked past, brandishing his powerful flashlight towards oncoming cars. "I'll be right back," he said. And I grinned. Because it was so awesome, so perfect. Great timing, God.

My eyes were riveted to the scene as the state trooper talked to the people in the crunch. Eventually they drove to the berm in front of us. The state trooper swiped at a headlight and dark skid mark on the road with his foot.
After he'd gotten the accident stabilized (there weren't any major injuries), the state trooper returned to us, got the license number of the semi, then sent us on our way.

 

As we pulled back into traffic, I saw a whole new dimension.
Yes, God dropped us into a no-fun situation. But that dropping wasn't so much a dropping as it was a placing. A setting. A timing.
Sometimes things happen to us that appear to be thoroughly nasty. Expensive. Embarrassing. Time consuming.
But then God sweeps aside a curtain and reveals the reasons. With grinning faces, we see the worth to the expense. The resolution of the embarrassment. The profit from the time.

And this new situation is so much richer than before.

God is awesome, y'all. No matter how nasty you're feeling today, remember this story. Who knew that a rear-ending event at the dark close of a long, long day could be so sweet?

But God's good at things like that. The curtain will soon disappear and you'll smile incredulous.