Obedience

My oldest son Jared wrote this story when he was seventeen.

I was almost sixteen and I was excited to get my license so I could drive. I was given a

car by my aunt . I thought it was perfect. I didn't have to buy a new car. It was a 76

Oldsmobile. It was just going to be a temporary car until I got a better one, then I was

going to drive this one in a demolition derby. The only thing wrong with it were the bald tires. All I had to do was buy some new tires and register it, and then I could drive

my very own car.

During the summer I mowed our neighbor’s lawn. I saved up $200.00. My dad told me

that I should buy some tires and register the car with that money. But it took me all

summer to save. I wanted to spend it on other things. I begged my dad to register the car

for me, but he said "No, it’s your car so you should do it." I thought if I didn't do it he would

probably do it for me.

The car sat in our driveway and it would be one week before I got my drivers permit. I wanted

to take the car for a spin, but my dad told me not before I had my driving permit.

The next day both my parents and siblings were gone on an errand. The house was so

quiet and I was bored. I looked outside and saw my lonely car parked under the

showering raindrops. I thought I would take the car out for a spin and no one would ever

know.

I took the keys and ran outside to my car and started it up. I drove it to the skate park to show off my car that I was driving all by myself. I picked up one of my friends

and took him for a spin. We did a few donuts on the slippery, freshly rained-on asphalt and then we drove around the neighborhood for a little bit.

I went to make a left turn down by Maverick.  As I turned I thought I would step on the

gas peddle and spin the tires with the big v8 engine. I started fish tailing and lost control.

Being an inexperienced driver, I crashed right into a tree. My friend hit his head on the

windshield and the glass cracked. It made a hole in the radiator and popped the passenger tire making it impossible to drive.

I was so scared when that happened, I felt bad that my friend had hit his head because of me, and I thought I would never get my license. My friend called another friend to give him a ride home. This friend also gave me a ride to my house.

As I was sitting home alone, I dreaded the moment my parents would walk through the door. What would I say to them? How long would I be grounded for? The moment came and they had not notice the car wasn’t sitting in the street. I told my parents the whole story. To my surprise they were not mad. They were mostly disappointed that I disobeyed the law and them. My dad said we should go get the car and tow it home.

When we got to the crash sight, there was already a cop and a tow truck ready to

impound the car. I told the police who I was and what I had done. He was going to give me a ticket for leaving the scene of an accident, but since I came back he only wrote a ticket for driving an unlicensed vehicle, driving without a license and driving without insurance.

I asked them not to impound my car. I told them my dad and I could tow it home. But the police and the tow truck man would not listen to me, and they took my car anyway.

I didn't have the money to get the car out of impound so I had to leave it there.

My dad told me that we would have to go to court and suggested I cut my hair so I would look more presentable. He took the razor out and cut my hair, I watched the curls hit the ground. When my mom walked into the room and saw all my curls on the ground she started to cry. I hugged my mom and told her I was sorry.

I ended up getting my permit the following week.  When I went to court they dismissed the driving without insurance and driving without a driver’s license, but I still had to pay $200.00 for driving an unregistered vehicle.

The money I made in the summer had to go toward the ticket. If only I had obeyed my dad, I would have had a car. But since I disobeyed him I had nothing - no hair, no car, no money.

I wanted to let my hair grow long. My parents told me I could let my hair grow if I was obedient. I learned a good lesson from this. Always obey your parents and the law. Since I started obeying them I got another car and my hair is growing back.

As my hair grew back and got long, a few people thought that I did drugs and stuff like that. But I didn't care what they thought as long as I knew I was not doing anything wrong.

If you obey you will be blessed, if you don’t you won’t.