Oblivious to the Obvious

A fresh blanket of snow covered our city, once again this morning.  We are on an emergency weather alert with mountain passes, our link to the rest of the world, requiring chains on all vehicles. 

It's a bit hilarious because we were just mandated by the state of Oregon to remove our studded tires the other day...

I came out to a flat on my wife's car, which means I pump up the tire, grab my portable compressor and toss it in the back.  I'm driving her car today, which is my responsibility as the man.  Lunch will be spent at the tire store today, or perhaps getting up early tomorrow and beating all those folks who are presently in violation of the law to the tire store. 

After airing up the foul tire, I drove to the main intersection of our subdivision and cross street.  As I looked each way, I couldn't help but notice the lovely snow crystals still on my windows, remains from what I had missed from scrapping this morning.  I began pulling out, slamming on my breaks in time to see a white SUV turning left in front of me.

Never saw them coming until it was almost too late.

I tooled through a three traffic lights and began to fiddle with the heater that wasn't getting as warm as I'd like it to, slowing down to drive past the middle school.  My head was down, looking at the climate control and speedometer as I rappidly decended to 20 mph. 

That's when I saw the person coming up to the crosswalk...

I was legal as I motored through - but just barely.  If I would have been paying attention, I would have stopped for them, so that I was in CLEAR compliance with the law.  Bend's finest LOVE writing tickets for such violations - which we should all appreciate on a certain level...

Have you ever had those days where you feel like you're oblivious to the obvious?


I'm reminded to the phrase from our venacular, "Ninety percent of success is just showing up."  I looked it up and Woody Allen said something like it, but even he can't decide if he said it first.  But taking the phrase at face value, I think it's true to a certain point.  And yet if going through the motions after your arrival is the other ten percent, we miss way to much...

We are on day seven of our church fast at Faith in Bend.  Many of our people have been talking about hunger pains - and trust me, "I feel your pain!"  (Sorry, couldn't resist.)  But that isn't the point.  I struggle with having all kinds of apparatus around me, everything in perfect order so I can function.  So when I fast, I've got to have the program all laid out in front of me to accomplish my precious goals.  I'm reminded that it's so easy to get caught up in the process that I miss the obvious behind why I am engaged in the process in the first place.  


Lord, protect me, protect us from being oblivious to the obvious!