Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to church we go

We made it safely to church and back on Sunday.  Praise God!

Normally I would be more nonchalant about our trip to and from church, but I got a good reminder this week about appreciation, especially when it comes to things we take for granted.

The Apple of my Eye was driving.  This in itself is unusual.  While he generally does the driving for the family, I drive to church.  This is for two reasons:  first, we go to church in my car, and I like driving my car.  It's fun.  ☺

 But also, first thing on Sunday mornings ~ like, really first thing ~ he plays pickup ice hockey with some friends.  Early on Sundays is when they can get the rink for free, and everyone can manage the time in their schedule.  So by the time we leave for church, he's already been up several hours and driven ± 20 miles, and he's quite happy to just sit, and let me drive. 

But this week, I was trying to help my daughter with something, and it made us a few minutes late in leaving the house.  Not a lot, but enough that he had decided to save a little time by starting the car and backing it out of the garage.  So she and I just ran out of the house and hopped in.  And off we went. 

We hadn't gotten far ~ only to the first major intersection on our route ~ when my hubby made a left turn and nearly hit a cyclist who was crossing the street when it wasn't her turn.  He braked hard, and the kids and I all flew forward in our seats, and the cyclist looked up with an expression that could have been "whoops!" if you were generous, but really seemed more like, "hi, how are you?" 

Which seemed a surprising response, considering we could have killed her, if my hubby hadn't been aware, and had a quick response.  But, ya know, to each her own.

Then as we turned into the parking lot of church, we had another near-miss.  This time it was us making a left turn, when all of a sudden we had to brake hard ~ again ~ as a car that we thought was going to turn before it got to us, didn't.  It was coming straight, and we were in its path.  It wasn't coming fast, and they slowed down, allowing us to go ahead into the parking lot. 

Neither instance was anything more than a small error, with huge possible consequences.  But in both cases, everything turned out fine.  Disaster was avoided. 

I hadn't prayed for a safe journey when we left the house.  But I was certainly thanking Him for it by the time we arrived.