I don’t know whether this is funny or scary . . . or both, but I had my own little adventure tonight driving from downtown Franklin to Barnes and Noble.

When I turned on to Mallory Lane, I noticed that the intersection light was out. I believe at that point, you treat it like a four-way stop depending on who gets to the intersection first. At least that’s the way it’s theoretically supposed to go. In reality, it did not.

People had no idea what to do. Sometimes, they sat there. Sometimes, several cars from one side would go through, one after the other. Sometimes, it looked like they were playing the old arcade game Frogger with their cars. A few times, I thought I was about to witness an accident. Once, I came mighty close to being in one (that hopefully would not have been my fault).

It was that way for about 4 or 5 intersections. I didn’t see any police cars (but I did see one emergency vehicle). My nerves were getting frayed and I was ready to be off Mallory Lane.

But then the next intersection had lights, so all was well and I made it unscathed. People resumed normal driving (or at least less crazy driving).

My takeaways are that 1) people in general are dumb (and I can say that because I’m dumb about other stuff), 2) it didn’t take all that much to throw everybody into chaos, and 3) if the apocalypse does actually come in my lifetime, I hope I’m walking and not driving.

Maybe it’s a tiny foretaste of the book of Revelations. Or maybe it’s just we need better driver’s ed in high school. I don’t know. I keep thinking about those bombs that can wipe out all the electronic devices within a certain radius or people who can knock out the power grid and cause random chaos. I have read my Bible, and the last verses of the last chapter isn’t a big scary massive car wreck. It’s one where we’re invited to the biggest and best feast where all the best people will be there. And the best part is that Jesus is there.

But I know I’d rather not go there just yet, especially if it’s from a heart attack caused by the anxiety of driving with no working street lights. I’d rather go the more serene route and die in my sleep (and again hopefully not while driving a car).

I’m thankful to be at home with most of my sanity intact. I know I don’t want to go through anything like that again for a long, long time.