Today's lesson brought to you by Exxon

It's a little embarrassing, but I have a funny story... and the moral is?

THE GAS LIGHT ON MY DASHBOARD IS NOT JUST A SUGGESTION!

Yes, you know what's coming next...

I totally ran out of gas on my way to work yesterday morning. I've heard stories of other people doing that and thought, "Wow- how dumb can you get? You have a gauge AND a light to tell you when you need gas!" And now I have joined the ranks of the people I used to make fun of.

The light came on Tuesday on my way home from work. I thought that I might go to the grocery store that night, and thought, "That's perfect, I can get gas at Kroger." But then I skipped grocery shopping. The light came on again the next morning as soon as I started the car, and yes, I noticed it. I like to think of myself as optimistic though! I picked up my friend Tanya and we were on our way. Maybe God was trying to give me a little hint when we got on the interstate and traffic was backed all the way up to our on-ramp. There are no gas stations between our neighborhood and I-40, but I knew there were several at the next exit 3 miles ahead. I jokingly told Tanya, "If we have to sit in this traffic for too long, we might have to pull off and get gas." The cars kept moving, however, and I settled comfortably into the left lane and didn't think twice about getting gas before work.

(Admission of my own stubbornness- or stupidity-- We live 22 miles from work. The light came on Tuesday on our way home. I know full well that you generally have 25-30 miles to go once the light came on. What the heck was I thinking, that I could get all the way home AND all the way back downtown with that little orange light glaring at me?!?)

So anyway, we were cruising along, chatting away, when I started to feel the car slowing down. Did my foot slip off the pedal? I pressed down hard on the gas; no response. "Oh no," I thought. Trying hard not to panic, I began gently easing my way across the three lanes of traffic separating me from the next exit ramp. I've never ventured into this part of town at all, but it seemed like a good time to jump off the interstate and pray there was a gas station waiting for me at the bottom of the exit. There wasn't. By this time I had prayed a couple of times that we would get to work- fully knowing that I should take 10 minutes to get off and fill-up. I think God might have been laughing at me. He was definitely shaking His head. Again- I was only trying to be positive and put my faith to work! Back to the story... we managed to get off at the exit and coast to a stop at the bottom of the ramp. Poor Tanya's eyes were huge by this point, and I could tell in her mind she was screaming at me- "What are we going to do?!" Laughing at the predicament I had just gotten us into, I picked up my cell phone and called Rob. And then I called AAA. (I figured they could race to rescue us. Rob won.) About 25 minutes later, his truck came flying down the exit ramp. About 10 seconds after that, his brother's truck came flying down the ramp- Rob was worried that we were in a less than savory part of town and he called Ryan to come protect us until he could reach us with a gas can. I was still laughing and cutting up and trying to help Tanya relax. Rob wasn't laughing. I still don't think the situation was all that serious; and by lunchtime he was laughing at me too.

Talk about starting your day off on the wrong foot...