The State Trooper Who Finished My Blog

Found at William and Reba's, my brother's house

From under the semi truck in front of me, a cloud of lumber, cardboard boxes, and foam pieces exploded across the toll road.  I drove right into it, boards clattering against the front of my car, unidentifiable debris spewing into the road behind me. 

I'm that geek that goes home for Thanksgiving and comes back loaded with favorite new quotes.  Or maybe I should blame the geekiness on my family, for providing me with the quotes.

On my drive home, I was mentally processing, "Be a servant, not a solution".  Here are a few of my philosophical thoughts:

1. A solution can be confusing.  A servant never is. 
2. The internet is overloaded with solutions.  But not with servants.  
3. No one cares about your solutions if they aren't convinced of your service.
4. A solution is telling; servant hood is doing.  
5. There are problems without solutions, but not problems that can't be helped by a servant.  
6. Jesus was the solution to the sin nature of man.  But in order to become that solution, he had to first become a servant, in the most amazing miracle: Emmanuel, God with us. 

About five miles from my home exit, the cloud of debris washed over me and I pulled to the shoulder. A few other vehicles pulled over as well, then shortly pulled away. 

Should I leave too, I wondered? It was dark, so I didn't know if I had damaged my car, although it drove fine. 

I decided to stay.  If I later found damage, how would I prove that I had received the damage here? 

I felt bad calling 911, but I didn't know who else to call.

"What's the nature of the emergency?" they asked, then transferred me to the state police.

"What's your location?" the state police voice asked me.  His tone was a hybrid of I just sat down to a pancake dinner and I'm really sick of talking to Indiana's idiotic citizens.  

I explained that I was on the toll road north of Mishawaka, but couldn't see a mile marker, that I had hit a cloud of debris, and pulled over, but didn't know if my vehicle was damaged.

"Get out and check," he said, setting his fork down.  (Okay, so I don't have proof that he did that.)

 "Well it's dark," I said, suddenly feeling like the biggest idiot in the state.

"Drive to the next exit.  They might have a light there," he said. 

I didn't wait to hear the maple syrup sloshing over his IHOP meal, but ended the call as quickly as possible.

My next executive decision was to burst into tears.

Shortly thereafter, as I wiped my eyes, a state trooper pulled up behind me, thank God.  I suppose the one at IHOP might have suggested he swing by, but I prefer to credit God.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

I explained.

He shone his light over my car, asking me to step out and evaluate it as well, and pronounced it merely in need of a wash. 

"Should I call my insurance company, do you think?" I asked.  "What if I find something damaged later?" 

"I'll write the CAD number down for you," he said.  "There's no obvious thousand dollars of damage, so I won't write up an accident report."

He returned with an official slip of paper, dated, timed and numbered. 

"Be careful pulling out," he said. 

 Back to the quote.  Point number 7. 

7.)  "They might have a light at the next exit" was a solution, but entirely meaningless to me.  A state trooper tapping on my window and asking me if I was okay was meaningful even without a solution.  But because he was a servant, he also provided me with a solution that Geico will respect, should a future problem develop. 


Trooper #2 was a beautiful type of what we are hearing in the Christmas songs: when suggestions and solutions and messages are insufficient, just go.  Show up.  Show up at the person's car window.  Show up in the broken world.  The world didn't need a "solution", we needed Jesus.  Maybe there would have been another way, but I guess God knew he needed to show up in person, which he miraculously did in Jesus. 

God with us, the greatest Servant the world has ever know.

(You can be a servant, even if you're not this cute.)