Del Taco saved my life.
(And no, I wasn’t dying of hunger or thirst or anything remotely stomach related.)
But I was sitting at a red light in my Nissan Xterra, snarfing down a chicken burrito before I turned onto Juanipero Serra to help feed the hordes of J Serra football player’s lunch during hell week.
My car was perched on the freeway off-ramp and visibility limited to the left by the large stone structure of the overpass.
The light turned green and I started to pull out, but just as I hit the gas a large chunk of chicken accompanied by gooey sauce and lettuce launched into my lap. I checked my mirror, realized no one was behind me and paused to scrape sour cream off my thigh.
Defining Moments
And in that split second of hesitation I heard a roar.
A heavy-duty pick-up truck came barreling through the intersection running two back to back red lights and screeched by in front of me.
I gulped and whispered a prayer of thanks –tears and adrenaline spilling out of me.
I would have been a sitting duck and the truck would have hit me dead on the driver’s side of my vehicle.
I like to think Jesus, or a big awesome angel, flicked my chunk of chicken at just the right moment.
Annoyance or Mercy?
And it reminds me that sometimes those little annoying moments are really God’s grace and lavish love.
How often do we get in such a frenzy of emotion that we don’t recognize the financial hardship, or health issue, or even tension in our relationships as a red-flag from the one above?
Instead, we go barreling into the intersection to certain doom and fail to stop, pause, and address the spilled burrito of our life lying in pieces in our lap.
I’m so grateful today for that messy burrito and the hot sauce I squirted all over my wheel.
Where do you need to pause and let God speak to you?
