I have driven on ice in Texas for the past 35 years and never had a dent or ding to my vehicle.  My dad taught me to drive on ice when I was 15.  He had been stationed in Greenland in the Air Force so he knew all about ice driving and shared it with me.  They were lessons that have paid dividends over the years so that I’ve never missed a day of work or had any injuries due to ice.  Slow and steady wins the race on those days.

Last Thursday, we had ice on the ground when I came to work.  No problems for me.  I was in my office when the receptionist came in and told me a coworker had run into my truck and wanted me to come outside.  Well, sure enough, the lady was trying to pull into a spot close to me and slid right into my back door.  Man, she felt horrible.  She told everyone at work about it, put it on Facebook and apologized to me multiple times.  I constantly reminded her it was only metal.  No people were hurt and that was all that was important.  Three other people at work came and asked me if I was okay.  Of course, I said.  I only felt bad for my coworker who never meant to cause harm and was only doing her best to be a good employee.

Life is like that.  We go for years and nothing too bad happens and then someone dings us even when they didn’t mean to.  It makes me wonder how many times I have dinged other people emotionally or spiritually without meaning to do it…and may have been completely oblivious to it.

Insurance will pay for the damage.  It will be fixed and we’ll both go on.  No blood, no foul.  It isn’t always that easy with the emotional and spiritual damage we cause.  Sometimes those dents last a long, long time.  I pray for heapings of grace and mercy when I have run into someone else without meaning to and even more grace and mercy when I did it knowing I could choose another path.

I’m thankful Christ has already paid the insurance bill for the dents I cause.

Grace and peace.