Deer In The Headlights

Our youngest daughter drove a 2003 Toyota Corolla.
We always chose a safe economy car for the youngest driver to take to school.
That car served our two youngest children well.
It had been very faithful.

This past summer my youngest daughter was an intern in Philadelphia.
All the interns lived in the same building.
The building was also the place where youth groups would come each week.
The interns led groups of students to various locations around the city, in which they served.

The car that two of my children drove for many years needed to be replaced.
In fact, the last two weeks of her internship, my daughter was without a car.
We picked her up and brought her home at the end of her internship.
A decision needed to be made.

My husband decided that he would get a car since his current car had many miles on it.
Everyone in our family has a Toyota except one daughter who drives a Honda.
Both kinds of cars have been so reliable for our family.
My husband had his car for ten years and it was still going strong.

He decided that our youngest daughter would now drive his old car.
She would drive it for the remainder of her senior year of college.
My husband began searching for the car he would get.
He was not sure if he wanted to buy a new car or a gently used one.

It was when my daughters and I went on our trip to Tennessee that he bought his car.
By the time we returned home, his gently used car was in the garage.
It barely had any miles on it.
It had many features that he would not have chosen yet was delighted to have in the car.

Since my husband enjoys bike riding he installed a trailer hitch on the back to carry his bike.
He loved the sun roof.
He found the back up camera so helpful.
He liked having Bluetooth, which is something he did not have in his other car.

Our daughter was thankful for his car, which is a small SUV.
She added two stickers on the back so she could distinguish her car in the parking lot.
She put her pink auxiliary cord in the car so she can listen to her music.
She hung a Car Jar from the rearview mirror to make the car her own.

My husband really enjoyed his car and wanted to take that car whenever we went anywhere.
I was forever moving my sunglasses from my car to his when we went out.
It was important to him to drive that car.
He was like a child on Christmas showing me all the features.

My husband decided to take five days off, which included our anniversary.
He usually texts me when he is leaving work.
He has a forty-five minute drive home.
That gives me enough time to finish getting dinner ready.

The night before his five days off, I thought I heard the garage door open.
My husband did not come inside right away.
When the door opened and he entered the kitchen, I saw his face.
I knew something was wrong.

He was shaking his head in disbelief.
A deer ran across the road and hit me, he said.
I was so glad that he was all right.
I knew that his car was not.

I went out to the garage and saw the car that he had driven for only two months.
There was literally a hole in the driver’s side bumper.
It did not look like there was internal damage, but there was external damage.
I looked at the front wheel, which still had deer fur stuck to it.

I am so sorry this happened to you, I said.
I am so thankful that you were not hurt, I told him.
I said a quick prayer to God thanking Him for protecting my husband.
I assumed the hole was where the deer’s head hit his car.

This is the deer’s mating season, I mentioned.
We had just told our children to watch out for deer when they drive home.
The country roads at this time of year can be so dangerous.
Even with your eyes peeled, looking straight ahead, you can still get hit.

A buck will run across the road in pursuit of a doe.
Nothing will stop him.
A moving car is no deterrent for him.
He is after what he wants at all cost.

We came inside and ate dinner.
My husband was very quiet during our meal.
He needed to call our insurance company.
He had an evening of phone calls ahead of him.

I thought about a verse I had just read.
Through the prophet, Jeremiah, God describes the sin of His people.
His people chased other gods and disregarded Him.
He compared His people to a donkey in mating season chasing after a mate.

A wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her craving– in her heat who can restrain her? Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find her. (Jeremiah 2:24)

How often are we like a deer in mating season?
We furiously pursue something we want.
We disregard all obstacles.
We are single minded in our pursuit.

We want what we want.
We disregard God and His commands.
We are like the buck chasing the doe.
We run after ungodly pursuits.

My husband got out of the car that night.
It was a doe that had hit his car.
She was lying on the side of the road still moving a bit.
However, when he went back to check later, the doe was gone.

No doubt, if the doe was able to get up, she went away limping.
How many of us walk around limping because we are pursuing things that hurt us?
How many of us seek after things which may one day prove to be fatal?
With reckless abandon, we pursue those things instead of God.

“‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am faithful,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt—you have rebelled against the Lord your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me,’”declares the Lord.  “Return, faithless people,” declares the Lord, “for I am your husband. I will choose you. (Jeremiah 3:11-14)

God is merciful.
Even when we pursue harmful things and forsake Him, God will not be angry forever.
God expects us to turn away from those things and acknowledge our guilt.
God chooses us and that is far better than anything we can possibly run after ourselves.