I know what you’re thinking. That “a wheel fell off my truck” is some metaphorical analogy that I heard on a podcast or in a personal development book. Unfortunately, that is not the case. My wheel literally fell off of my truck this morning.
I was on my way to the gym before work. I was in more of a rush than usual because I went back to sleep after my alarm this morning and did not get out of bed until 515. While I was driving down the interstate, I felt a jerk in the rear of my truck and looked in the mirror and saw one of my rear dual wheels spinning down the interstate and into the median.
The wheel falling off, in turn, sheared off the wheel studs and then my truck would not drive properly. Thankfully, somehow the other dual managed to stay on the truck without being lugged on long enough for me to get the truck to the shoulder.
I called Keri and had her pick me up and get me to work. After hanging up the phone, I did what is typical of me and begin to run through my mind all that had gone wrong. I knew that there was a vibration in the rear end of the truck. I thought it was just mud in the duals so I paid it no mind. I should’ve been more attentive. This set my mind into a spiral of self loathing. I was so mad at myself for what had transpired because it had been preventable.
You see, this is how Satan wins. He LOVES for us to wallow in self pity when something like this happens. He loves for us to be miserable because he himself is miserable. The shame and guilt that I felt due to this situation was due to the power and influence of the Adversary.
Thankfully, not only do I have a beautiful wife, but an intelligent and caring one as well. In true Keri fashion, she let me know that to wallow in doubt and guilt is in no way going to serve me. That being mad at myself is not going to help me get on top of this situation. Instead, accept what happened. Recognize that this situation is unfortunate and that it hurts. However, also recognize that even in the hardest situations, there is still reason for gratitude.
That prompted me to make a list of all the things I was grateful for relating to this incident
- It happened to me instead of the kids. For a couple of weeks now, I’ve had to drive alternating vehicles while my daily driver is in the shop. That was the reason I was even driving my truck to work in the first place. However, a couple times over these few weeks the kids have taken the truck and I have driven Levi’s car to work. How fortunate are we that it was me by myself and not the kids in the vehicle when this happened.
- I didn’t wreck– This isn’t the first time I’ve had a wheel come off while driving. The other time I was driving down our rural road when BOTH of the duals came off. Although that incident did not result in a crash either, if that had been the situation here, I most definitely could’ve totaled the truck.
- It happened in April and not January- This is huge on a number of fronts. I use my truck to feed. It has a Hydra-Bed that allows me to carry two large round bales of hay and unroll them to my cows. While I am still feeding, I do have some stockpiled grass that the cows can eat. That it’s April and I’m nearly done feeding. If this would’ve happened in January it would’ve been a lot less bearable.
- Keri was coming to Rolla for Levi’s game anyway. – Hey, at least I wont be stranded at work NOR will we have to drive separately home tonight.
- It happened literally across the interstate from my work – because I’m a spaz I called Keri right after it happened to ask her to come get me. But it was kind of futile in practice because it would’ve taken just as much effort for me to just walk across the interstate to work. After she had dropped me off at work, I text Keri to apologize for getting her out of the house early to come get me when it really was unnecessary. She said to me “It may have been unnecessary but you were stressed out and I could come and didn’t mind to. That was a little way that I could help out.” That is what true service to the Lord is. To be able to serve not matter the situation. She could’ve put me in my right mind and told me to just walk across the interstate to work… I had told her where I was. Regardless, she still jumped in her car to come pick me up because she knew that would help me… probably more emotionally than physically.
There are countless other things that I could name that were blessings in just this one unfortunate situation. It’s very easy to focus on the bad whenever we are in these less than ideal circumstances. However, if we resist that urge to victimize ourselves and find the blessings in the stresses, we will come out much healthier on the other end.