You would not think that a tow truck and a funeral would have anything in common!  Neither did I until today!  I was driving from the hospital to a funeral home to conduct a funeral for a hospice patient.  Suddenly a car hit the left front bumper of my car and spun around in a circle.  The fiberglass front bumper and grille assembly fell off my vehicle onto the roadway leaving me unable to move the vehicle.  Some kind soul called 911 and within minutes we had an ambulance, fire truck, and three police cars on the scene.  I was the only driver in my vehicle and the other vehicle was only occupied by the driver.  The driver of that car accepted transport to the Emergency Room.  I declined transport because I was not hurt only frantic to get to the funeral.  Knowing I had 25 minutes to reach the funeral home before the service started I called the hospital switchboard and asked the operator to call the funeral home and explain what happened but that I promised I would arrive.  Six employees of the funeral home were standing on the front porch as I arrived delivered to them by a police officer in a marked squad car.  My car was towed to a local repair shop.  Following the service one of the family members took me to the rental car franchise office so I could receive a car to drive until my car is ready to drive again.

The family was very gracious and understanding about my being late.  Everyone asked me if I was hurt and was glad to hear I was not hurt.  In the funeral sermon I came upon a sentence I wrote which talked about driving because the deceased did quite a bit of driving.  I had to pause before I read it because it applied so appropriately to my experience getting to the funeral.  I was sure I had done a mediocre job leading the service because of the internal anxiety and adrenaline I had racing through my mind.  I was shocked as the funeral home staff and many attendees told me they were impressed with how calm and thoughtful I was as I lead the service.  If only they had been inside my mind, I imagine their comments would be much different.  Saturday I plan to get some rest and also to celebrate the grace I received from people and the grace of God that was surely with me today.