Car collision

I was driving down the highway through a small town today, 35-40 mph, and a car coming in the opposite direction suddenly did a left turn in front of me with no warning.

At first I couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought, “This can’t be happening.” But it was happening, and no matter how much I swerved to the right, the other car was determined to turn left and there was no avoiding him. We crashed. Airbags inflated. Seatbelts locked. Liquid spewed on the ground, smoke and offensive odors filled our cabin.

The other driver has admitted full responsibility for the accident, saying he did not see me, and claims his insurance will cover all expenses. I expect no troubles in settling with him.

Nonetheless, it took me a while to recover from the accident happening in the first place. I had done nothing wrong. I had broken no laws. I was driving safely and responsibly, yet a horrible crash still occurred. His car looked totaled and mine may well be too.

Gratefully, all people involved are fine. My son and I were totally unscathed. The driver’s wife was taken to the hospital for minor care, but is comfortably home this evening. It seemed a miracle considering the force of impact and direction of hit.

Again, how could I be involved in such a horrible event when I did nothing wrong?

In searching for a spiritual lesson to learn from the experience, I decided it’s absolutely essential to actively pray for the safety and wisdom of every driver on the highway. Praying for one's own driving is not good enough.

When uniting with others in a common activity, liking cruising down a road full of cars, we are dwelling in a common mental venue. To a degree, what one participant thinks, or doesn’t think, affects what other participants in the same venue experience. We cannot be naïve about other people’s states of thought in our common mental venues. We must pray for everyone’s protection and safety to be safe ourselves. God’s love is all-inclusive, and our prayers, to be answered, must be all-inclusive.

I have frequently prayed for all drivers on the road, but after today, I can see I need to pray more.

My family and I prayed together tonight and thanked God for all four people involved in the accident being alive and well. And we committed ourselves to praying regularly for all other drivers on the road as much as we pray for our own safe and wise driving,--which is a considerable amount of time spent, by the way...

When everyone in the world is praying as much for others as they pray for themselves, oh, what a wonderful world it will be! And the highways will be safer too.