Brakes & Rotors

     A while back my car needed brakes.  My husband replaced the front pads.  All was well for a while.  Then it started bouncing a little when I would stop.  I told him and he said it probably needed the rotors turned.  Ok.  Time passed; the bouncing got worse.  I mentioned it again; probably need to take it to a shop and have it fixed.  Ok.  More time passed; bouncing continued to get worse.  I “mentioned it” again.  

“All the places I called are backed up.  I really need to get these brakes fixed.  It’s starting to sound like it’s falling apart.”

“Well it’s because you’re riding your brakes.”

    Now, I don’t know enough about how brakes work to know if that’s totally accurate or not.  But it kinda irked me a little bit.  

“I do not ‘ride my brakes.’  It’s just from all the stopping at red lights and stop signs in town.  And all the people in front of me who like to stop just all of a sudden without any brake lights or blinkers or any warning at all.  It is not my fault.”

    The next week, last Friday, my pastor made a comment that I have not been able to forget.  In his preaching, he was telling stories of a couple of fatal car accidents.  He said, 

“They had it all under control...until they didn’t.”

It absolutely took my breath away.  And every time he repeated it, I lost my breath again.  

“They had it all under control...until they didn’t.”

To me it was the most random statement, at the most random time.  It didn’t seem to fit with anything else that happened during that service.  But maybe it did.  Maybe my mind was just on the dozen other things I had going on that day.  How many times have I tried to do it all, get it all done, keep it all running smooth...riding my brakes to keep it all under control.

“They had it all under control...until they didn’t.”

What made it worse, these people had passengers in their vehicles at the time of their wreck.  Some made it; some were injured; some didn’t survive.  

    I have never had the wind knocked out of me like that before, and I’m still not over it.  I think I was already in the same shape my car was.  I had let things go so long, I felt like I was about to fall apart.  I needed repair before I took out me and whoever was just along for the ride.  I need to learn new driving habits, and stop riding my brakes.