I’m in need of some wisdom right now.  Some wisdom and patience to wait on the wisdom.  You ever have one of those days when you just can’t even comprehend how the heck any good can come of something?  In a world where I’m desperately searching for God’s glory in all things, sometimes the “good” eludes me.  And today, with that guy who plowed right into my car while speeding and talking on his cell phone, was one of those days.

My car, affectionately known as ‘Brandy’, is not your ideal whip.  She’s a 1999 Rover 200 with a paint patch missing on one door, a rattling coming from where the AC sits under the hood, misaligned windshield wipers and corroding interior door panels.  Still, she’s MY jalopy and from transporting bicycles and other props for video shoots to making late night runs to Al La Kebab with the boys, she’s held her own as a Point-A-to-Point-B kind of ride.  Unfortunately, today, I may have had to let her go and it’s totally uncool.

What happened was: I was in a turning lane, making a right turn, poised to cross a two lane street (we drive on the left here in Cayman) and the car in the inner lane, closest to me, gave me a bly to pass through.  Wanting to be cautious, I creeped through, just in front of the car as I wanted to be sure there was no oncoming traffic in the outer lane.  I couldn’t see fully beyond the inner car and, sure enough, there was another oncoming car in the outer lane and he nailed me.  Now, accidents happen and if we want to get technical about it, I was in the wrong.  The other gentleman had the right of way and I was “obstructing his path” when he hit me.  However, what is NOT taken into account here is the fact that the same gentleman was speeding (I’d estimate 10 over; a $100 speeding ticket) AND talking on his cell phone as he nailed me.

Rhian was actually in the passenger seat as his side was hit (thankfully, he’s alright) but he couldn’t tell me who was in the wrong either.  It was a tricky situation but the police officer didn’t even acknowledge the fact that the other gentleman didn’t consider there was a reason the car in the lane next to him was stopped at a no-right turn opening or the fact that he HAD to have been speeding to lace my car the way he did.  And thus, one more nail in the coffin for profiling young, male, Caymanian drivers in hatchbacks.

And as if the suckfest wasn’t already a sold out show, his car has such minor damage while poor Brandy now has a shattered headlight, mangled bumper and bent in hood.  I suppose this is a good thing for my insurance company as they will only have to pay for relatively minor repairs to his car.  But that still doesn’t solve the problem of who’s going to pay for repairs to Brandy; if they’re even possible.  If you’ll refer back to the corroding door panels, my dad has been trying to find Rover 200 panels for about half a year now and they just don’t seem to exist.  A bumper and a headlight, in comparison, would be a pair of unicorns.

So in all this, where is the glory?  I’m safe and my insurance company doesn’t hate me.  And I now have an uncommon model car to magically conjure up parts for (don’t even get me started on the money).  To be perfectly honest, I probably could have taken some whiplash if it meant the tool who decided to race down Thomas Russell Way on his cell phone was buying ME a new car for Christmas.

Lord, grant me patience and wisdom.  And auto body work.