“No Harm” (10/05/2025)

Yesterday, my daughter and I got up early and began our preparations for the drive home. We finished packing. My daughter loaded everything on the luggage cart, rolled it to our car, and stowed it safely for the return trip. We settled into our seats with our big drinks in the middle console, and as we shifted to drive, we prayed for safe travels and we asked, “keep us from harm and from doing harm.” And we were off.

It is our traditional prayer before our trips. We recognize that we need help along the way. We had an excellent drive. It was challenging at times with some drivers taking speed limits as mere suggestions and some obviously unaware of simple driving etiquette on the road. But we managed to keep our good humor and pressed on, stopping frequently to take a break to better maintain our high level of alertness, to refill our big drinks, and to deal with our previous big drink.

We made it safely without alarming incidents until we got to the Madison area when a truck pulling a horse trailer pulled out right in front of us. I immediately turned on my signals and changed lanes to the left when the driver with the horse trailer pulled in front of me in that lane. I slammed on my brakes. Luckily the numerous drivers behind me all were watching and did the same thing. The horse trailer driver kept on going as if unaware of the horrible crash she almost caused.

The “Thank you, LORD!” was instant and sincere. We were safe from harm; we did no harm. The incident came up several times through the rest of the day. I truly was grateful that the LORD was with me, that I was alert enough to respond accordingly, and that the drivers behind me were also on alert.

Prayer matters. It’s why we pray. We know it matters. We know that through prayer, we acknowledge our need of the LORD as well as our own need to respond to the challenges before us with the gifts and graces the LORD gives us. We know we need prayer, not just on big travel days, but daily, because every day is a journey day. Let us pray for protection; let us pray we ourselves do no harm.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.