Wake Up Call!

Big Time. Three days ago, I had the worst scare of my entire life.We were having a major wind storm in Fort Worth Tuesday. Wind gusts of 70+ mph today in the downtown area, brush fires all around. I had a meeting at lunchtime, and per my usual, I simply walked there. I underestimated the wind, though, and had already been buffered around by the time I got to the other side of Burnett Park. I was crossing Lamar at 7th Street, and there was this huge gush of wind and a loud CRACK! In the next second, I’m being showered with broken glass. Windows at the top of 15 story building across the street were being blown out from the wind, or workers dropped a glass pane or something. All I could think to do was turn my back and cover my eyes. The largest chunks shattered in the street not two feet in front of me, and the wind was blowing so hard that the glass was just flying in all directions. I just stood there, dumbstruck! Cars were slamming on their brakes and people were just all over me. I remember a man leaping out of a red truck and yelling “Are you okay?” “Did you get hit?? At that moment all I could think of was that I was late for my meeting. I shook the glass out of my hair and went on my way. (Shock? Stupidity?) I went to my meeting, participated in the discussion, then walked back to my office.

Two hours later, I was sitting at my desk eating my sandwich, and I started to shake and cry. If I had been two feet further along the crosswalk, I would have been chopped in half. Instead, I had a very small scratch on the back of my head and one on my shoulder. There were shards of glass inside my bra, and I found a handfull of glass chunks at the bottom of my purse. Only then did I realize how close I came to getting seriously hurt.

On the way home, I drove by the “scene” with my children. I was astonished at how much broken glass there was all around. Looking up, I could see not one, but three windows missing their glass, already covered with plyboard. I could see how the winds had blown the glass two blocks down the street; therein lies the reason I didn’t get cut. The panes of glass landed just downwind of where I was standing in the crosswalk, so most of the glass blew away from me.

So. What am I going to do now? Adjust my attitude. It’s been sliding lately, and it’s time to reclaim myself. It’s time to return to living a life of gratitude, one that revels in giving praise to God and not just sending Him petitions and complaints.

And I will never again walk through downtown on a windy day without wearing a hardhat.