A story of a very kind police officer

The police officer returned to my car and said, “Sir, did you realize your driver’s license is expired?”

Well, to be honest, yes.

I tried to renew my license online last year but learned that it could only be done every other time. The great state of North Carolina required an in-person appointment this time, which I never made.

The officer stopped me for driving 52 mph in a 35 mph speed trap. You would think a man driving illegally would be more careful.

But the kind officer ticketed me for the driver’s license violation and let me slide for speeding. Bless him.

I told my wife I was less motivated to renew my license. My slackness saved thousands of dollars in increased car insurance premiums.

Then my son happened

More precisely, his plan to go on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic did.

Parental paranoia slithered into my frontal lobe.

What if something villainous happened, and I needed to Liam Neeson my son back to the States?

I’m dead in the water without a passport.

So, the story begins

I can’t get a passport with an expired driver’s license, and to renew it, I need a certified copy of my birth certificate.

Guess who has birth certificates for both his parents and two older sisters but not his own?

And you can’t get a certified copy of your birth certificate without a valid driver’s license. Do you see the issue?

Fortunately, the governing authorities had the foresight to see nitwits like me coming a mile away. They allow next of kin to get certified copies of their relatives (as long as they have a valid driver’s license).

A plot twist

Just when I squinted from a bit of daylight, Big Gov slammed the cellar door again.

The first available appointment for an in-person driver’s license renewal was three months away — in every DMV office in the state of North Carolina. My son will be flying into the DR before I can legally drive to Krispy Kreme.

Someone suggested I keep checking for appointments because people cancel, opening up last-minute spots. By the grace of God, I looked one day and got an appointment for three days later.

So, I drove 90 minutes (illegally) to the DMV for an 8 am appointment, and the nicest lady issued me a new license. It felt good to be on the right side of the law again.

I walked out of the DMV office on a ray of sunshine because I had a valid driver’s license, a certified birth certificate, and a passport was next. My son could venture safely into the Third World with peace of mind. His Pop was prepared to poke bad guys in the eye to bring him home.

The hits keep on coming

Then, the Passport Guy sandblasted me with more bad news. The passport people don’t like temporary paper copies of driver’s licenses. They require another form of identification in addition to a birth certificate.

A Social Security card or a voter registration card would work.

You know what I’m about to say, right?

I couldn’t find either.

Without a trace

It dawned on me that I’ve been absentmindedly but progressively erasing my existence.

No driver’s license.

No birth certificate.

No Social Security card.

No voter registration card.

But Uncle Sam still knows me. He dips into my pocket twice a month.

Don’t think too harshly of me. I’m sure there are very reasonable explanations for losing these documents (that I can’t currently recall).

A new voter registration card was easy enough to acquire, so like God blowing new life into the valley of dry bones, my life is beginning to reappear on the horizon.

My Real Disappearing Act

A day is coming in which I will disappear. I hope you will vanish with me.

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 4:17

This is Good News for everyone who shares my affinity for losing things and letting important deadlines pass. One decision now to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior locks in your eternal home.

Don’t let this deadline pass.

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