First off, for those who don’t know, a yellow sticker is a defect notice given out if an authorised person (like a police officer) determines your car is unsafe for the road.
To say I have quite a history with them over the years would be a gross understatement. I have been given many, many yellow stickers on different vehicles over the years.
At a guess, I would have received around 50 and likely 10 or more on some of my Holdens / Toranas.
As a marked man, the police often wanted to give me a fine or catch me out… when they couldn’t, a yellow sticker was the next best thing.
If I could describe the anger, the hatred and the insults I have hurled at police when they have issued me a sticker – you would be amazed that I was never jailed. And that was if there was actually something wrong with the vehicle. Bald tyres, oil leaks, missing gear stick, no muffler (or exhaust at all), no battery – the list is long and bizarre. But at times, there was nothing wrong at all…
It was one of these times that I was doing nothing wrong at all – I was not breaking the law. I was minding my own business, filling up my HG panel van with fuel. I noticed a police car on the main road pass the fuel station, then abruptly do a u-turn across 4 lanes of traffic and park next to me.
They got out and demanded immediately “pop your bonnet”.
“Pop your bonnet”
I don’t recall being immediately alarmed or angry, even when they opened my bonnet illegally. I was doing nothing wrong & the car was relatively road worthy (for me) .
But they immediately stated they were going to put a yellow sticker on the car I began to boil. “Why?! What for?!!!”
One replied: “for not having a bonnet support rod”. I was seething – this vehicle had springs to keep the bonnet up – it didn’t need or come out with a ‘support rod’. That just showed how ignorant this cop was… what an absolute clown!
But no amount of reasoning, arguing, yelling or swearing made a difference.
They put the sticker on and drove off, leaving me fuming. It was the Friday afternoon of a long weekend. I had plans to leave in a few hours with a few people in my car on a holiday trip down south. What now?
I raced to the nearest pits to have the vehicle examined. I explained to the examiners how ridiculous and illegal the police had been and they genuinely seemed sympathetic. I drove the car over the pit, turned it off and walked to the waiting area as per normal.
Less than a minute later, the examiner did something unexpected…
“Come down here and look at this”
It was very unusual that an examiner would allow someone anywhere near the car let alone down underneath the car in the pit. I climbed down the stairs where he was shining a torch at the tie rod in front on one of the front wheels. I could not believe what I saw…
One of the tie rods had no split pin, the nut was missing and the tie rod had broken from it’s press fit and just resting in the hole…
(If you’re a mechanic and know the horror of this skip this paragraph). The tie rod is the only thing that stops the front wheel steering off the road making the car completely uncontrollable. Because it is so important, it is secured in 3 ways to ensure it can not come off. The bolt is fine thread and tightened to extremely tightly to ensure it can’t come loose. As a back up, the nut is drilled and a split pin is put through it to make sure it can’t be loosened let alone come loose. Even once both of those are removed, it would be common to have to hit the receiver 50 – 100 times with a 5kg sledge hammer to get it to release the tie rod. It is locked in *tight* so it can’t come out. But this one was loose, just resting in the hole!
In this condition, the slightest bump, knock or jolt and the car would have veered straight off the road with no way of stopping it. It was amazing I had not already had an accident on the way to the pits.
Although this would be bad enough on any vehicle, my car was about to be driven flat out – 150kph+ for a 400km trip, a number of people in the back, no seat belts and drinking.
I have absolutely no doubt it was a for-gone conclusion:
“If I did not get that yellow sticker, at least 3 people (me included) would have died that night.”
What led me to being there at that specific time and location? What led the police car to be right there at the right time?
What made that police officer see my car & go out of his way to put a yellow sticker on a vehicle that looked fine? What allowed someone with so little knowledge of cars to be in the position to examine cars?
What made me go straight to the pits & have it inspected instead of just driving down south anyway?
To me, 25 years later, what escaped me then is now crystal clear: there is a God who orchestrated this whole situation to keep me alive. I would find it far easier to believe that the police in that interaction were actual angels than it was just random chance.
This incident was not isolated, instead one of hundreds of times, the God of heaven invaded my rebellious and sin saturated life to keep me alive and fulfil His purpose. What amazing love, mercy and grace!
I trust you are aware of situations and times where you have no natural explanation as to why you survived a certain situation. You know it wasn’t luck, your logical mind understands something out of the normal occurred.
I’m here to tell you – it was Jesus. He didn’t just live & die on a cross – He is alive & well – ruling heaven and earth forever. And He is coming back…it is your time now to respond to Him.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 (NLT)
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. Romans 5:8 (NLT)
Lord, please help us remember and realise the many ways You have protected us. Help us to understand why and help us to experience Your love. Thank You for sending Jesus to pay for all my mistakes, I chose to turn away from those bad ways and trust Him today.