On a warm clear Sunday afternoon in June, I was driving along a country two lane blacktop toward the grocery store in town. I wanted vanilla ice cream for the cake my daughter would bake for my approaching birthday. I’d set the cruise control on 56 mph and kept alert, with one eye on the rear-view mirror for the black truck following closely behind. The road before me was clear. I saw a dark red sedan ahead on the right; it was safely stopped at the stop sign on a gravel cross road. I had the right of way. Then it pulled out— directly in front of me. I swerved sharply to the left to avoid a T-bone collision smack dab into the other driver’s door. My right front bumper crashed into her left front bumper. Both cars flew off the road in opposite directions. Mine slammed into a road bank. The driver and passengers in the other car were not hurt. I woke up to smoking air bags, severe pain, a fractured back and a concussion related hearing loss. A young man stood at my car door, asking, “Are you all right.” My first words, after unintelligible sounds of pain were, “What about the other car?” He said, “No one was hurt; all had gotten out by themselves.” Then I asked, “What about the driver behind me? He smiled.”That was me. I saw everything. This accident was totally unavoidable. You couldn’t have done anything to stop it.” As for me, every prop but God was broken away. As I rode waves of helplessness and pain, I clung to Jesus and He sustained me. Others cared for me; all that was required of me was to hold fast to my Lord, my Tree of Life.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. Isaiah 43:2
