I had an attack of STUPID yesterday—and boy, was it a doozie! Honestly, sometimes people do things out of pure ignorance, but sometimes we do them just because we were simply not thinking and focusing. The latter circumstance is what I call an attack of stupid. It is one of those “where was my brain? and what was I thinking?” moments.
My husband has a Ford F-350 extended cab truck that we use to pull our 5th wheel camper. The truck doesn’t get driven much and so I told Greg that I’d drive it to work yesterday just to, as my Daddy would have said, “blow the soot out of it”. I joked with Greg that it was so big that I hoped I did not run over something. He looked at me and said something like, “You ok driving it?” I said, “Sure I am. I was just joking.” Or so I thought.
My drive to work is about 25 miles and off I went at 8am so that I’d be able to open the pharmacy at 8:30am. After getting about 5 miles down the road I saw that the gas tank was only about ¼ full and so I decided to help Greg by filling it up. I pulled into my usual gas station and my usual gas pump and began filling the truck up in the usual way I would my own vehicle.
About 15 gallons into pumping the gas, a tsunami hit me. OH NO!! I was pumping gasoline into a diesel truck! OH CRAP!! Yes, an attack of STUPID. I had never filled my husband’s truck before, but had been with him a jillion times when he filled it up. I knew it was a diesel truck, but just was not thinking. Where was my brain?
Immediately I stopped pumping. I paid for the gas, got in the truck and put the key in the ignition. This is the point where the attack of stupid ended, apparently. I thought, “What do I do? Maybe I’ll just head on to work and call Greg on the way and see what to do.” Then I thought, “No, this is a diesel and I bet the gas would mess up the engine.”
So, I took the key out of the ignition, picked up my cell phone and dialed Greg at work. Thankfully my husband is not the type to get too excited and so I knew that even if something was ruined, he would not fly into a rage over it.
Greg did not answer, which meant he was with a patient. What do I do? What do I do? I then called my sister and brother-in-law. Leslie knew immediately from the panic in my voice that something was wrong.
I said, “Can I talk to Robert?”
“What’s wrong?”, she said.
I explained what I had done and she relayed it to Robert. I heard Robert in the background saying, “Tell her DO NOT CRANK THE TRUCK. DO NOT.”
I assured them I had not and would not. By this time it is 8:20 and I know I’m not going to get to work in time to open the pharmacy at 8:30. I called the girl that would be working with me and told her to hang out at the door. I would be there eventually.
I called the dealer where Greg bought the truck and he said he would send a roll-back to pick the truck up. Chris was laughing as he talked to me.
He said, “Leah, I am not laughing at you. I’m really not. You have no idea how often this happens. Even people who drive diesels everyday do this. Don’t worry. You have not done anything that can’t be fixed easily.”
I had already heard that from several men at the gas station who recognized that I was in distress and had asked if they could help. One gentleman said his sister had done the same thing, but she cranked and drove the vehicle. Blew the stinkin’ thing up!! Thousands of dollars of damage to the engine. Silently, I thanked Jesus that the STUPID had ended just prior to cranking the truck. In fact, I recognized at that point that the Holy Spirit had been the one saying, “Don’t crank the truck. Don’t!” even before my brother-in-law said it.
My mom came and took me to work. King Ford towed the truck into the dealership, drained and flushed the tank. I learned a huge lesson. I guess my birthday present will be a bill for towing and flushing.
What’s the spiritual application here? Our hearts and minds are the tank and they need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and only the Holy Spirit. When we put the common stuff of the world into our hearts and minds, the potential for major damage occurs…damage that may not be easily fixed.
See you on Tuesday for Challenge 2010!!!!
