Confession Time: I’m Glad God Gives Me More Than One Strike

I hadn’t done something so dumb since I was a teenager.

Cars whizzed by me at seventy miles an hour.The wind force of the trucks rocked my stationary SUV like a Volkswagen in a cyclone.

The vehicle I currently drive will tell me only once that my gas is low. So if I’m alerted before my appointment, and even if I drive by five gas stations on my way home, it will never let me know again. One strike and you’re out.

The Preacher and I were headed for date night at The Concert in the Park, when we felt a lurch and a chug. He looked at me with eyebrows raised. My face flashed hot as my stomach dropped.

I knew the verdict without looking. We were out of gas in the middle of the eight lane highway. Limping to the side we stopped.

And it was entirely my fault.

I never heard the “ding.”
Signs of a too-busy-head-in-the-clouds day.

I am so thankful he didn’t lecture me like he could have…
I am thankful he didn’t fling angry words like darts to a bullseye…
I am thankful he didn’t sigh loud and slam the door…

Knowing I felt embarrassed, he gave me grace, called his faithful friend Terry, and chatted sweet with me while we waited.

So today I heard the ding as I pulled into the furniture store. Knowing full well that when I returned to my car two hours later, I would have another project on my mind and places to go and not remember my gas gauge.

So I reacted in spur of the moment inspiration.

I grabbed a napkin, wrapped it around my stick shift with my power cord and wrote myself a note bold.

“GET GAS.”

We do what we have to do JoJo.

I concentrate so hard on all the intricate client specifics, that I forget easy the details of my own being.

My flesh is weak (and forgetful), but I don’t have to rely on myself to get through life.

Thank. The. Lord.

And I am oh so grateful my God of Grace is patient and kind. And like my sweet husband, he may shake his head at my absent-minded funk, but smiles loving like the indulgent father that he is.

My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength of my heart
    and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26

What grace can you thank God for in your life today?