More about the accident I told you about in the previous post.

I’d like to finish my story about my accident; the one I told you about in the previous post.

Back to the scene of the accident: The first highway patrolman who started pursuing the person who almost hit me never got a chance to catch that person. He heard the crash and turned around at his next available pass-through and came back to check on us to see if we were all OK; which we both were. More cops showed up very quickly. It was the second cop who recorded all our stories, even whatever the first cop had to say. The second cop was the one who gave us both tickets. I didn’t get mad or say derogatory things to him. I just told him my story as best I could. When I took out all the things I thought contributed to the accident, I was legally at fault; I failed to yield the right of way. I did not obey the law. And that was that.

I had two options with my ticket. I could pay the ticket and this accident would stay in my driving history for a long time, or I could take a Drivers Safety class. I opted for the class.

Here I was in Tyler at my brother’s house, 240 miles from home, constantly praying for help with the many decisions we needed to make with mom, and now I needed to figure out what I was going to do about getting another vehicle. It just so happened that my brother had a spare vehicle for me to use until I figured it out.

One thing I want to say about mom’s passing. She always said that when it was her time, she didn’t want to suffer long with pain. I believe that the Lord did keep her from that. Only once did I hear mom complain of pain and that was near the end. Mom was diagnosed on November 14, 2013 and she passed away February 1, 2014; not quite the couple of weeks she was originally given.

The accident was Jan 27^th, the insurance totaled my truck on Jan 30^th, I bought a new truck there in Tyler on the 31^st, and mom passed away Feb 1^st. I returned home and we started making preparations for mom’s funeral which included moving her body from Tyler to Moulton, 260 miles away.

There were so many things to deal with after mom’s death; getting death certificates to various places, probate court, deciding what to do with all of moms stuff, yada, yada, yada. During all this after death stuff, I forgot all about the Drivers Safety class.

I got a letter from the Municipal Court in Troup, TX with information of what I needed to do and a time to complete and send back proof of completion of the class. This first letter was sent to my home address about a week or two after the accident; right in midst of all the after death stuff. There were two things I needed to do right away which I did complete. I thought the document said I had 6 months to send in proof of completing the course so I put it into the back of my mind.

After a couple of months, I received another letter from the Municipal Court ordering me to appear before the Judge for failure to show evidence of completing the Drivers Safety class. I searched for but couldn’t find the original document to see how long it gave me.

I went ahead and completed the course and took my document of completion with me to see the judge. I arrived early and first talked with the court clerk and gave her the document verifying that I had completed the course and she directed me to the court room. It was not at all what I expected. The court room was very small with just a couple rows of folding chairs in front of the judge’s bench. I was the first person there so I sat down in one of the chairs and waited. One other person came in. The judge entered the court room just wearing his street clothes. No formalities when he entered; he went right into business. The other man was first to talk with the judge. The judge completed working with him then it was my turn. I went up to his bench and waited for him to read over the charges and then he started to question me. He saw the document of completion and asked why I did not complete the course when I was supposed to. I explained about all that was going on with our mom at the time. He asked more questions and then gave me his judgment. He dismissed the charges and had the accident erased from my records. You can imagine my glee. He had every right to charge me but because of his kind heartedness and compassion, he pardoned me instead.

I tend to think that more often man judges by the letter of the law. What I mean is this; if you disobey a law, there are no excuses. Another thing is that they can only judge by the evidence given to them.

With God, it is different. His judgment is sure, perfectly true. He knows everything about each one of us; he even knows what we think. Who is better to judge than God himself? God has already rightly judged me guilty of disobeying His laws and my punishment is death. My and your life stories have already been written in books. God knows everything even before it happens. What is amazing and beyond words is this: His son, His only Begotten Son who knew no sin, has taken my place of the punishment. God didn't pardon me, He took my place. He didn't do this just for me. He did this for everyone; the whole world. He died so that we could live; so amazing. Can you imagine anyone having more loving-kindness and compassion than our God?

John 12:44-50 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

⁴⁴ Yeshua declared publicly, “Those who put their trust in me are trusting not merely in me, but in the One who sent me. ⁴⁵ Also those who see me see the One who sent me. ⁴⁶ I have come as a light into the world, so that everyone who trusts in me might not remain in the dark. ⁴⁷ If anyone hears what I am saying and does not observe it, I don’t judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸ Those who reject me and don’t accept what I say have a judge — the word which I have spoken will judge them on the Last Day. ⁴⁹ For I have not spoken on my own initiative, but the Father who sent me has given me a command, namely, what to say and how to say it. ⁵⁰ And I know that his command is eternal life. So what I say is simply what the Father has told me to say.”