Saturday, March 26, 2011

Answered

Chris has this nasty habit of getting all road-ragey on people if they do stupid stuff while driving. He wholeheartedly believes he has to be the one to let them know they are dumb. For instance, if they cut him off, he will cut them off on purpose to let them know how inconsiderate it was of them to do such a thing. Thoughtful eh?

I won't lie, sometimes this scares the innards out of me.

When we were first married, I used to be all gaspy about it. I gasped so often though that it started to sound like I was hyperventilating every time he drove the car and it annoyed him further.

So, one evening, a couple of years in, I was gasping again and white-knuckling the please-don't-let-me-die bar and I started to pray in my head and in my heart. I prayed harder than I've ever prayed in my life. It was more begging than praying really, but still, I was petitioning the Lord to come to my aid.

I didn't pray for us not to die.

I didn't pray for Chris to slow down and come to his senses.

I prayed specifically for him to get pulled over for wreckless driving and get a big fat ticket and possibly even go to jail for 24 hours and that this would make him never want to drive fast again. I knew if we were going to live and if the Lord was going to help Chris overcome his weakness, He was going to have to do it through his pocketbook and his pride.

Every single time after that when he would let his anger drive the car, I would brace my feet against the floor, grab the seat with one hand and the bar with the other, and I would silently plead with God for a cop to pull Chris over and give him a ticket.

Maybe it is dumb to pray for something like that, but I knew that either:
A) we were going to die in a fiery car crash from hell and I had to be okay with going out like that

or

B) I needed help to get this fixed

I chose B.

Welp, it took about five more years, but the Lord finally answered my prayers. Chris got pulled over a couple of weeks ago going 51 in a 30 mph zone. He got a fat $238 speeding ticket and a court date.

When he came home mopey about getting the ticket, I tried not to be too overtly happy. But seriously, I was just giddy with delight! I stopped then and there and gave a silent heartfelt prayer of thanks.

His pride is a little injured, but he has slowed down and been super careful lately. We might just live long enough to find a new and seriously painful way to die without all the skidding on the road and being impaled by car parts. I couldn't be more joyous!

3 comments:

erinfaun said...

Wow. Erin, I love this so much. As his sister I know EXACTLY how you feel. Chris' driving terrifies me. Hopefully he keeps a bit more chill on the freeway too!

Brit said...

Oh how I love this. I might just giggle next time I see Chris at church :D

Melanie said...

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it won't last. I did the EXACT SAME THING for Brandon, he got his ticket, was careful for about 2 weeks and then he was back to his old habits. I'm thinkin' he needs jail time!