The Car and His Boy: The Chronicles of my Car Accident

I absolutely love C.S. Lewis.  In fact he is one of my all time favorite authors of all time.  To him, among many other great and noble souls, I owe my understanding of Christ and how He feels about me.  Most everybody is familiar with at least one of C.S. Lewis' works; The Chronicles of Narnia. Few of my friends however have read all of the books in that wonderful series.  The lesson those books teach are truly profound, and as I've considered how to tell the story of my car accident that very easily could have been serious or, risking the chance of sounding melo-dramatic, even fatal I've decided I need to tell a story from a book in the Chronicles of Narnia.

The book this story comes from is called The Horse and His Boy. It is a book about a boy named Shasta and the adventure he has with his horse named Bree.  As a baby Shasta was found in a boat with a knight by a fisherman.  The knight had died from starvation and the fisherman raised Shasta, though with little love.  Eventually Shasta leaves with a horse named Bree and ends up spending the night by jackal-infested tombs amidst strange sounds.  Later he and his companion and their horses are chased by what he thinks are two lions while being near death in the desert, and finally at the point in which I wish to discuss Shasta is riding on his horse in a dense fog.  He is aware of a being beside him.  He doesn't know it but it's Aslan, who as I'm sure you know is a type of Christ.  Shasta is very frightened but finally musters the courage to speak.

"Who are you?" he said scarcely above a whisper

"One who has waited long for you to speak."

Shasta feels warmth and eventually shares his story with Aslan.  He tells how he was found in a boat and raised by a cruel man, he tells of his woes at the tombs, and he tells Aslan of the lions who chased him and his companion when they were thirsty and near death in the desert.  and the end of his story Aslan simply says:

"I do not call you unfortunate."

"Don't you think it was bad luck to meet so many lions?" said Shasta

"There was only one lion," said the Voice

"What on earth do you mean?  I've just told you there were at least two the first night, and--"


"There was only one: But he was swift of foot."


"How do you know?"

"I was the lion." And as Shasta gaped with open mouth, and said nothing, the Voice continued. " I was the lion who forced you to join [your companion...] I was the lion that drove the jackals away while you slept.  I was the lion who gave the horses new strength of fear for the last mile...And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you."


This I think is my favorite exchange in all of the Chronicles of Narnia. This past week it would be very easy for me to say that it has been quite unfortunate.  It all started Monday.  I've been working on getting a federal student loan and planned to use what was left over after paying off my tuition to pay of my laptop, and pay the fee for canceling my Verizion Wireless account and transfer to AT&T.  Well it didn't go through on Monday, or  Tuesday, in fact it still hasn't gone through because a notice didn't get though to me on accident and I missed a step.  Frustrating!

Then the sundae got a cherry on top today (Friday.) I was driving home from work on I-15.  Traffic was just starting to get heavy in the first two lanes.  I made the first lane-change successfully and then the second one as well.  In the third lane I was driving behind a Ford Expedition who, unbeknown est to me, was tail-gating the car in front of it.  In the lane next to me a car was right behind me.  I saw that I had plenty of space between me and the expedition so I sped up to 65 MPH.  I turned to check my blind spot, and when I turned back around I saw that the expedition had slammed on its brakes and I had maybe 100 feet before I was gonna hit it.  In short I literally had less than a second to make my decision.  I slammed on my brakes and turned to the left to avoid getting in what would surely be a nasty crash.  I lost control of the vehicle and smashed in to the broadside of a Chevy Suburban.  The force of the crash slowed me down and sent me in the opposite direction until I came to a stop at the shoulder.

So now I get to spend my refund on the flippin' $500 deductible instead of paying off my laptop.  Lame eh? What the crap! I pay my tithing, I go to church, I read my scriptures, and I keep the commandments...and this is how Heavenly Father repays me?  Where is He?  I think I have good reason to believe I have bad luck.

And yet.

I do not call myself unfortunate.

Where is Heavenly Father in all this?  Well had I not crashed into that Chevy I never would have regained control of the car and probably would have ended up seriously injured or seriously injuring other people.  After I did broadside the Chevy I still didn't have full control to the car Somebody guided it to the shoulder.  As for the loan not coming through.  It was no accident I didn't get the notice to do what needed to be done to get the loan.  Had I got it before today the money would be gone, but now I have a way to pay the deductible, and it won't even be that painful.  Like Shasta my series of unfortunate events turned out to be a beautiful symphony of the Divine.  So many small things came together.  I'm so grateful for a God so powerful that He can make the individual's life turn out alright in the end.  What may seem bad may in fact be our God working out a greater good.  After all to feel pleasant at rest we have to exercise and put our bodies through what at the time seems very unpleasant.  I think I'm done complaining about not having close friends from the mission or a good romance.  I think I'm plenty fortunate enough.  It only took a potentially near-death experience to realize it.

Liberty and Justice for ALL!

Okay folks I'm getting incredibly frustrated with the debate for the so named "Ground Zero Mosque."  Up until a couple days I had my personal opinions on the matter which I kept to myself...that was until I saw these hate-filled, ignorant, and inflammatory videos seen below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=966WFdC48PE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG2mupPwpyI

Okay seriously?  The first guy's arguments about building monuments to Hitler at Auswich and Benihanas at Pearl Harbor are nothing more than Red Harings. The analogies he draws are completely irrelevant.  I would have a problem with a statue of Hitler being built at Auswitch just as surely as I would have a problem with a monument being erected in honor of Osama Bin Laden at Ground Zero.  I would not have a problem nor, I think would anybody else if Germans erected a Lutheran Church at Auswitch, similarly I do not have a problem with Muslims building a Mosque near Ground Zero.

As for the second video.  I think the bigotry is obvious to any critical-thinking observer.  The video implies that all Muslims are jihadist extremists who hate America and Democracy, they state a mosque would be a symbol of their victory over America.  Actually I do believe that not allowing citizens of the United States the right to build a religious edifice where they so choose would be the real attack on all that is American. 

As for the claim that all Islam is evil....I actually heard a Latter-day Saint say this to me.  Okay really?  In February of 1978 the First Presidency of the Church stated

"The great religious leaders of the world such as Mohamed, Confucius, and the Reformers, as well as philosophers including Socrates, Plato, and others, received a portion of God’s light. Moral truths were given to them by God to enlighten whole nations and to bring a higher level of understanding to individuals. … We believe that God has given and will give to all peoples sufficient knowledge to help them on their way to eternal salvation” (“Statement of the First Presidency regarding God’s Love for All Mankind,” 15 Feb. 1978).

I have read the Qu'Ran and find it to be a beautiful book that teaches many truths, and instructs men to live a good life in the name of a loving God.  Does it have it's passage condemning the non-believers?  You betcha!But then again you ever read the Book of Joshua or Judges in the Bible?  Or how about Nephi killing Laban in the Book of Mormon.  Taken out of context some of the verses in the Qu'ran seem very hateful and evil.  But the same is true of the Bible and the Book of Mormon.  Evil-designing men have used verses from all three books to  help convince others to join their designs.

I do not think history will ever forget when a group religious zealots declared an unprovoked "Holy War" on a peaceful people.  Thousands of innocent men, women and, sadly enough even children lost their lives.  But I'm not talking about 9/11, I'm talking about the Crusades.  Does what those Christian zealots did define all Christians?  Of course not; they attacked in a manner that is at a complete contradiction to the Savior's teachings.  So it is with Muslims who are true Muslims, the Muslims who "say assalamu alaikum" (peace be upon you) and mean it.  The citizens f the United States who, five times a day face east to pray to Allah, a God whom they believe loves all men. What right do we have to tell any citizen of the United States they cannot build a religious edifice?  None it would be at complete odds with the constitution and the American way.  It would be un-democratic.   In this way the Jihadists DO win if the mosque is not allowed to be built.

Of course this would all be assuming there was actually a mosque planned to be built at Ground Zero.  Truth is that's only a half truth...actually only like a 1/4 truth.  The plan is to build a Muslim cultural center 2 long-blocks away from Ground Zero this equates to about six regular Manhattan blocks.  The center will have a library, an arts studio, an auditorium, a pool, and exhibits explaining Islam. It will also contain a prayer mosque and will be open to all visitors, Muslim and Non-Muslim alike. 

All of you Latter-day saints should sympathize with the Muslims' wanting to build something holy and being opposed.  How many times have communities fought us building temples in their community?  Their reasons have varied but all stem from a misunderstanding of our church.  It is no different and if you think so I would remind you of the Danites, the Mountain-Meadows Massacre, and modern polygamists.  All of these groups did terrible things, but they did not act for the church.  They are all individuals who lost their way.  Yet do we not have a temple near Mountain Meadows?  Indeed did we not construct a monument there?  We did to show the world we as a church did not condone what those local leaders did.  Shouldn't we give Muslim citizens the same chance?  I think so.  Let's show the world we can forgive, let's show the world that we live by what makes this country great like the freedom to worship God how we see fit, and the equal chance all citizens have at the pursuit of happiness.

Please leave your comments.  Let me know what you think.  Also should you want to view pure, unbiased facts from a Pulitzer-Prize winning site go here:

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2010/aug/20/fact-checking-ground-zero-mosque-debate/