The Holy Roller – Distracted by God

A Driving Sin 

In the midst of the new Pokémon GO app. Public service announcements talking about the dangers of distracted driving are popping up left and right like a viral video on Facebook. On the highways of South Texas, I’ve seen people reading books, eating, applying makeup, snap chatting like their filming a talk show, but I have never seen anyone pray while driving.

Last Thursday a woman in Florida crashed her car into someone’s house because she was praying with her eyes closed! I know what you’re thinking, but the “Jesus Take the Wheel” joke has already been done.

The 28-year old driver, Mary Esther, told Okaloosa County Sheriff’s deputies that she had her eyes closed at the time of the accident. She ran a stop sign at an intersection and crashed into the brick wall of a house. Thankfully nobody was inside the house, and the brick wall prevented Mary’s maroon Ford Taurus from turning the living room into a parking space.

Not to spark a endless debate on religious practices, but how long was she praying with her eyes closed? Think about it. How many Mississippi’s can you count in the time it takes a car traveling at 30 mph to: drive to and through an intersection, jump a curb, drive through the front yard of a house and crashing into it? We’re talking maybe 10-15 seconds of Mr. Magoo behind the wheel.

Whatever God she was praying to, she should thank him for not letting her careless behavior bring serious harm on to others. It’s amazing that nobody was crossing the intersection at the same time as her, or walking past the house, and that the brick wall was there to stop her from driving though the house itself.

One thing that bothers me is her story of driving while praying with her eyes closed. I mean who’s to say she wasn’t just on her phone and wanted to avoid an additional citation for texting and driving? Not an accusation, just a possible scenario. No witnesses means that we will never know for sure what she was doing before the accident.

She was cited, obviously, for reckless driving and property damage. Mary was taken to the hospital for evaluation and I suspect she’s still feeling sore from being abruptly interrupted, mid-prayer, by a brick wall.

Lesson here is, if you cannot talk to God with your eyes open maybe take a moment to pull over and give him your full attention.

Be safe out there my friends.