Jaminfrog

Chel was in a car wreck last Thursday while I was in Indiana for work — she was just fine, with nary a bruise or even a runner in her pantyhose — but since I wasn’t here, I’m glad some guardian angels were right beside her.

It was rainy and cold as she drove from Dallas into work in Fort Worth in the little Solstice. She was driving about 60 in the left-hand lane of I-30 when she simply lost control of the car. It spun into the shoulder, hitting the front against the concrete barrier wall, then spinning around and hitting the back, then around again until it came to a stop.

After the car came to rest, Chel started touching every body part to make sure it was still in place. She doesn’t remember much of the wreck, but she heard a voice that told her to sit back, relax and hold on. (Her car-racing friend Jeremy says that’s what expert racers are trained to do when they go into a spin, because tensing up can cause broken bones or worse. So it’s a good thing Chel’s driving guardian angels know a thing or two about racing!)

She immediately called 911 and got a recording. “Thank you for calling 911. Your call is very important to us. All of our agents are busy. Please stay on the line!” Then, the OnStar button on the rearview mirror called out to her, and like a scene straight from their radio commercials, she pressed it to summon help.

Two nice truckers also pulled over immediately and ran up to the car to make sure she was alright. Chel said they looked like they had seen a ghost.

“Miss, I don’t know what you’re supposed to do here on earth, but you’ve got something good to do, because you shouldn’t have made it after what I just saw.”

The paramedics also checked her out and she was ok. Thankfully, her sales partner Christian from work was able to take her to the house, and Little Mom came from Plano to watch over her in my absence.

We don’t know what caused the car to spin out of control — although our hunch is that the recently issued recall on Pontiac Solstices may have something to do with it. All I know is that we’re not going to get behind the wheel of a Solstice again, and I am so thankful that my love was unhurt and was so protected by angels and friends.

Skill will get you here. Heart will get you there.

A fellow Mavs fan carried that sign as we exited the American Airlines Center last night following the Mavs dramatic game five win. Chelsea and I got to go, courtesy of Republic Title. (Have I mentioned how much Chelsea loves her job? Have I mentioned how much I love Chelsea’s job?) It was a nice study break before my first final tomorrow.

When the Mavs were up by 20, Chel turned to me and predicted that the game would get close, but the Mavs would win by 5. Being the loyal fan, I took her prediction as blasphemy against our vaunted Mavs.

Sure enough, the Warriors fought back and ended up taking a nine point lead with about three minutes to play. Then the Mavs took control and won the game by 6 after a 15-0 run. Chel was right. I was sorry.

As we left the building, we got to talking about how the whole NBA playoffs thing might be rigged, a-la professional wrestling. After all, it is to the teams’ and league’s advantage to have long-running, exciting series. Even the elevator guy in the arena agreed that it might be rigged.

“That would break your heart if you found out all this was rigged, wouldn’t it?” Chel asked.

I told her I didn’t think it would. Sports give fans something to believe in. Something to enjoy in the midst of crazy jobs, or stressful finals. Something to show that if you have a good amount of skill, and an even greater amount of heart, you can do great things.

Before this series, the Warriors had 20,000 yellow t-shirts printed up that say “We Believe.” Mavs fans countered that last night with signs that say “We Believe More.” And in the end, it doesn’t matter who wins. The fun is in the believing.

Chel has been reading a book called Conversations with God, written by a man who said he asked God questions over a period of time and just wrote down the answers. She said it started out great but quickly turned to the point where she wonders whether the guy is talking to God or himself. The book basically says that we are all God, we can make whatever we want happen if we only visualize it, and God really doesn’t care about the choices we make. I dunno about all that.

The book also says that God speaks through experiences, and I buy that one. So how interesting that yesterday one of the experiences we had was coming across a great song by Stephen Curtis Chapman that is pretty opposite from what the book has to say, and I think closer to the truth. Here are the lyrics…

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I’ve had a great birthday, filled with kind wishes in the form of e-cards, phone calls, text messages and announcements at meetings. Chel and I went out for my favorite (Italian food!) tonight before class.

When I got home I got my annual birthday card from Mom & Dad. They are always so sweet to send a card. The best part is the letter that they include. There’s a part in particular from this year’s letter that’s worth saving and sharing here:

Life is a beautiful gift no matter what stage in life we are. So live it to the fullest, and enjoy every day — even those days where you may wish you had stayed in bed. And whenever you get discouraged (and we all do), review the blessings you have, and are, receiving. That helps us keep things in perspective. What God has done and is doing for us just boggles the mind, even though at times some may not seem so great because the fabric of life is woven with both good and bad threads…

…We wish, and pray for, the very best blessings for you and Chelsea, as you continue to provide blessings to others.

God opens a window.

Note to self: If we buy a new car, and clean out the garage so that we can park the new car in it, and leave the only garage door opener we have in the new car, and close the garage door, and have the other side garage door locked, and not have a key to the other side garage door, we won’t be able to get into the garage the next morning when we need to get the new car out to drive it to work.

Luckily our garage has a window on the side, and luckily that window was not painted shut, and luckily I was able to open it from the outside, and luckily I was able to crawl through the window and get to the car. I could take it as luck. I think I’ll take it as a lesson in life instead.

Mom and Dad shared these hilarious tidbits reportedly taken from answers to a test about the Bible in Catholic Elementary School.

1. IN THE FIRST BOOK OF THE BIBLE, GUINESSIS. GOD GOT
TIRED OF CREATING THE WORLD SO HE TOOK THE SABBATH
OFF.

2. ADAM AND EVE WERE CREATED FROM AN APPLE TREE.
NOAH’S WIFE WAS JOAN OF ARK NOAH BUILT AND ARK AND THE
ANIMALS CAME ON IN PEARS.

3. LOTS WIFE WAS A PILLAR OF SALT DURING THE DAY, BUT
A BALL OF FIRE DURING THE NIGHT.

4. THE JEWS WERE A PROUD PEOPLE AND THROUGHOUT HISTORY
THEY HAD TROUBLE WITH UNSYMPATHETIC GENITALS.

5. SAMPSON WAS A STRONGMAN WHO LET HIMSELF BE LED
ASTRAY BY A JEZEBEL LIKE DELILAH.

6. SAMSON SLAYED THE PHILISTINES WITH THE AXE OF THE
APOSTLES.

7. MOSES LED THE JEWS TO THE RED SEA WHERE THEY MADE
UNLEAVENED BREAD WHICH IS BREAD WITHOUT ANY
INGREDIENTS.

8, THE EGYPTIANS WERE ALL DROWNED IN THE DESSERT.
AFTERWARDS, MOSES WENT UP TO MOUNT CYANIDE TO GET THE
TEN COMMANDMENTS.

9. THE FIRST COMMANDMENTS WAS WHEN EVE TOLD ADAM TO
EAT THE APPLE.

10. THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT IS THOU SHALT NOT ADMIT
ADULTERY.

11. MOSES DIED BEFORE HE EVER REACHED CANADA. THEN
JOSHUA LED THE HEBREWS IN THE BATTLE OF GERITOL.

12. THE GREATEST MIRICLE IN THE BIBLE IS WHEN JOSHUA
TOLD HIS SON TO STAND STILL AND HE OBEYED HIM.

13. DAVID WAS A HEBREW KING WHO WAS SKILLED AT PLAYING
THE LIAR. HE FOUGHT THE FINKELSTEINS, A RACE OF PEOPLE
WHO LIVED IN BIBLICAL TIMES.

14. SOLOMON, ONE OF DAVIDS SONS, HAD 300 WIVES AND 700
PORCUPINES.

15. WHEN MARY HEARD SHE WAS THE MOTHER OF JESUS, SHE
SANG THE MAGNA CARTA.

16. WHEN THE THREE WISE GUYS FROM THE EAST SIDE
ARRIVED THEY FOUND JESUS IN THE MANAGER.

17. JESUS WAS BORN BECAUSE MARY HAD AN IMMACULATE
CONTRAPTION.

18. ST. JOHN THE BLACKSMITH DUMPED WATER ON HIS HEAD.

19. JESUS ENUNCIATED THE GOLDEN RULE, WHICH SAYS TO DO
UNTO OTHERS BEFORE THEY DO ONE TO YOU. HE ALSO
EXPLAINED A MAN DOTH NOT LIVE BY SWEAT ALONE.

20. IT WAS A MIRICLE WHEN JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD AND
MANAGED TO GET THE TOMBSTONE OFF THE ENTRANCE.

21. THE PEOPLE WHO FOLLOWED THE LORD WERE CALLED THE
12 DECIBELS.

22. THE EPISTELS WERE THE WIVES OF THE APOSTLES.

23. ONE OF THE OPPOSSUMS WAS ST. MATTHEW WHO WAS ALSO
A TAXIMAN.

24. ST. PAUL CAVORTED TO CHRISTIANITY, HE PREACHED
HOLY ACRIMONY WHICH IS ANOTHER NAME FOR MARRAIGE.

25. CHRISTIANS HAVE ONLY ONE SPOUSE. THIS IS CALLED
MONOTONY.

So I made it through the LSAT today. I was most worried about the logic games section, so wouldn’t you know I open my test booklet to the first section and of course the logic games questions are the ones staring me in the face. I stumbled through the first few and think I actually got a few of them right before time ran out. At least I got the most difficult section out of the way first. The rest of the test was a 35-minute per section blur of multiple choice questions about short passages of this and that.

Chelsea likes to think that sometimes God winks at you through little inconsequential coincidences that happen. If that’s the case, I think God may have been winking at me on a few questions of the LSAT. I’m supposed to be sworn to not talk about the questions on the test, so let’s just say that one of the passages sounded a lot like a book I’ve been reading lately. And the writing sample prompt had to do with the industry that I’m in. So is God winking at me to convince me that law school is where I need to be? If so, maybe he’ll keep on winking as I submit my really late application!