Rear View Mirrors

In between church and Sunday School, the hubby runs me to Speedway to get my fake cappuccino. It’s an indulgence, I know, but for those of us who drink decaf, it is a necessity. On the way there, we were discussing how God had, in His wisdom, ordered the steps of the hubby’s life. There were the bad choices that he didn’t make, the drunk driver that didn’t kill him, and the fact that he ended up at the university I attended, not to mention retiring before the requirements of the job got even more demanding.

The same idea came up when we went back to Sunday School. We have been studying Martin Luther, and our teacher asked how many ways we could see that God had ordered Luther’s steps. Other than the fact that he lived to adulthood, Luther benefited from the protection of those in authority like Frederick the Wise. Before that, there was the thunderstorm that terrified him into changing his career path from law to being a monk. And Luther didn’t know that when he helped Katherine von Bora escape from the cloister where her father had placed her at the age of three he would end up marrying her. But God did.

My friend Hannah says it’s always easier to see the way God works in the rear view mirror, and I guess that’s what the hubby and I were doing with both our lives and Luther’s. It’s a lot easier to see how you have been protected when you are older and can look back, but the protection starts at a very young age, I think.

The reason I am thinking about all of this is the two-year-old grandson, Tony. He’s sort of camera-shy it seems to me, but here he is in August when we went family camping. You can click for a larger view. See how he’s in the back of the van? He’s always liked cars.

The other day I called the son and, as we were talking, he informed me that Tony had had his first car accident. Well, I thought he was talking about the boys driving their battery-powered jeep, supplied for them by the more well-to grandparents. So I said to the son, “Why was he driving the Jeep?” RJ usually does.

The son sighed. “It wasn’t the Jeep, Mom,” he said. “It was the van.”

Uh-oh.

Somehow, that little boy got in the van when his mommy’s back was turned and got it in gear. Reverse, of course. And proceeded to back over the neighbor’s air conditioner. To the tune of $1300. Ouch!

Fortunately, Tony is OK. And so is his mommy, who dived for the moving van. Grandpa and I are grateful for guardian angels. And at least he didn’t try to drive to Applebee’s. But it does look like Tony’s begun to form his list of things to see in the rear-view mirror. And what I want to know is….have you looked in your rear view mirror lately? What’s on your list?

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11