Crash!

So, yesterday I went out doing all my errands. I had a good list and was progressing through all of them very nicely, driving here and there about town.

While I still had two or three errands to go, I had a strong impulse to text a friend who was on my mind. I put it off, but the impulse returned, and yet again, and again. Each time I had an image of myself sitting still where I was, in my parked car, or on a bench outside a store, or even standing in a parking lot. But I kept finding excuses for not doing so; I kept putting it off, and the outcome was, I didn't.

Well, I finished my last errand at the bank, got into my car, and began backing out of my parking space. I finished my reverse move, had my brakes on, and was at a complete standstill, when looking out my passenger window, I saw the rear end of an SUV very close and even closer! I knew the car was going to hit me, but there was nothing I could do.

No one got hurt; her car fender, where it had hit me, did not have a scratch. My passenger window completely shattered and fell into the car, my door got a major dent and now cannot be opened at all.

I got to thinking later about that list of errands I had. I did all my errands except one--that text message. Had I texted, my pulling out of my parking spot would have been delayed, say three minutes. The time trajectory of the person whose car hit mine would not have changed at all due to my texting. Therefore, the car that hit mine would have pulled out before me by the length of time it would have taken me to text. Ergo, no collision.

Was it the Holy Spirit prompting me to text my friend? I often ignore promptings, and I frequently come to regret that habit of mine. Not usually as dramatic as this. My prayer is that I would come to believe with all my heart Isaiah 30:21 Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left. I pray that I will finally pay more attention to what the quiet voice inside me is saying.