I was reminded again yesterday about the power of a moment.  As I left the station last night to get Rachel home and get some dinner, I took my typical route out of campus.  I turned right on Martinsburg Road and headed towards downtown Mount Vernon.  As we approached the 586/13 split, out of the corner of my left eye, I saw a figure briefly cut across the sunlight coming from the west.  Now, if you’re like me, living and driving in Knox County, that’s a warning signal to slow down.  My foot immediately went off the accelerator and toward the brake.

Sure enough, something was darting across the street.  But not what I expected.  It was a female deer running full speed.  Not what you expect to see by Burger King at 6:15 on a Thursday night!  Yet it darted about 5 feet in front of my car and headed east toward between two homes there.  I was thankful for that instinct that kicked in.  Another 5-7 feet, who knows what would have happened?  Rachel and I said a short prayer of thanks as we tried to pull our hearts out of our throat.

As I continued driving to the house, I remembered that the instinct kicking in was something that started many years ago with my dad.  He taught me during those influential teenage driving years about the value of defensive driving, and how to spot signals of animal or deer movement.  I’ll admit, there were times that I wasn’t the best “driving student” with my dad, but he stayed patient with us.  My family loves to tell the story of the time I made too sharp of a left turn while headed to my grandparents’ house and ended up ruining two large pizzas that were in my dad’s lap.  The infamous “cheese slide.”

Sometimes it’s those little moments in life that can make a big difference.  Thanks, Dad…for being willing to stay patient with three boys of very different personalities and teaching us the basics.  Thanks for loving us, supporting us, challenging us, spending time with us, and most importantly, introducing us to our heavenly father.

-Joe