It was my junior year of college. I was juggling all of the normal college things from being in career-relevant clubs to teaching Bible studies to going to all of the classes and trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up. My people would probably have described me as very “on top of it” and “together” and “academic” and “nice.” I was your basic good person who was really skilled at “doing school.” And then my car was vandalized.

Nothing really changed. But I discovered something about myself.

I could get really angry. I was sitting in the living room with my back against the front door, slightly shaken up. And the commentary that came from my mouth surprised me. In my own backyard, someone had the audacity to walk up and beat on my car…then there was a knock at the door. It was the cops.

Cop: Yeah, so he started up at the hospital and then made his way through campus busting out windows and knocking down mirrors, but we caught up with him.

Me: I hope you tackled him.

Cop: (giving me a slightly concerned look) Uhhh – well, he was hiding behind some bushes.

Me: I hope you violently pulled him out from behind the bushes.

Cop: Uh, yeah. Sure.

I think that was the first time that I wished bodily harm on someone…especially someone that I hadn’t met. And it was all because of my car.

A couple of weeks ago, my car got bumped in the school parking lot (a very icy morning). And that bump caused my car to bump into another car. One of the downstairs teachers came up stairs to pass along the unfortunate news. I shrugged my shoulders, then went downstairs to exchange insurance information with the bump-initiator.

But then I went about my day. At some point, I went out to look at the damage. And again, I just shrugged. I went on with my day – listening to five year olds sing Frozen songs, guiding them on a trek through the woods, encouraging them as they climbed trees, patting their back as they fell asleep for nap-time, watching them slip across an icy playground. A bump to my car is far from the end of the world.

Coronavirus…that might be another thing.