When Pride Sounds Off: How God Can Speak Through a Car Alarm
For when you just want to do it yourself…
I am honored to have a story included in the essay series “Hear Him Louder” at marniehammar.com. In the story, God got my attention in a way that was humorous, humbling, and very, very loud! Here is how the story began:
It was a lovely fall day. The sun shone warm and bright. The canopy was ablaze with color overhead and children frolicked in leaves underfoot. All was right with the world. All was peaceful. Until, that is, my ear-splitting pride rocked the neighborhood.
I’m still not sure how it happened, where it all went wrong. Somehow, in the process of loading the kids in the van, a curious little finger discovered a new button and did what all curious fingers would do in such a situation: it pushed it.
In that instant the peace of the morning was shattered by the blaring of an ear-splitting, panic-inducing, please-make-it-stop car alarm. As I frantically began to push every button in the van, my oldest, with hands over his ears, yelled at me to “call Dad.”
“No! I can do this,” I yelled back, thankful that the deafening noise was a good excuse for my “yelling.”
I began to push every button in the van again, this time in a different sequence, but the alarm merely scoffed at my attempts. It seemed to grow louder. Kids began to cry. My oldest reiterated, “You really should call Dad.”
I ignored him and started digging in the glove compartment. Why do we have so many manuals? Which one do I need? Where is the section on the security system? I pushed buttons. I flipped pages.
“Call Dad.”
“No. I can do this.”
Push. Push. Flip. Flip.
Where is the heading in the manual with large neon letters that says “HOW TO SHUT OFF THE ALARM?”
“You should really call Dad.”
“I am perfectly capable of shutting off the car alarm.”
Except…I wasn’t.
You want to know what happens next, don’t you? To read the rest, pop over to marniehammar.com. It was such a joy to work with Marnie on this project and I encourage you to check out not only the essay series but also other writings and resources she offers.
