Sunday, September 9, 2007

Spared

The two-lane road meanders through the southern part of the city, connecting neighborhoods to the southern hospital district. The posted speed limit of forty-five miles an hour feels a bit much as the road curves around a few bends. The road, normally not very busy on a Sunday morning, usually allows quiet contemplation. But not this morning.

Within seconds after making one of the curves, I caught sight of a male driver in a red Ford pick-up truck heading straight at me. In the brief instant that we made eye contact, he gave no indication that he knew that he was in the wrong lane or that he was fearful. I immediately laid on the horn and jumped a curb in an attempt to lessen the blow. When he got to approximately four feet in front of my vehicle, he swerved out of the way. While I was still shaking, I glanced in the rear view mirror and saw that he never even put on his brakes and instead kept going as if nothing had happened.

As I replayed that scene to capture it in words, I felt the breath being sucked out of me. I have no idea whether that driver was on a quest to scare people this morning; if so, mission accomplished. I was still quite shaken when I arrived at church. I kept thanking God, knowing that He had spared me from pain, spending my life in a wheelchair, and possibly even death.

How many times in my life has God spared me from pain or death? I’m sure that any guess I conjured up would be on the low side. Today’s events were no different than the many times before when God has come to my rescue, except that this time I had a front-row seat. I watched the action-packed drama play out right in front of my bumper.

When I arrived back at my house after church, I recognized the magnitude of the words that I say to my dog every day when I leave, “See you later, Annie. GOD WILLING.”

“Thank You, Lord, for being my Rescuer and for sparing me from pain. Thank You for allowing me to see how sweet having a quiet afternoon at home can be in light of this morning’s events. Thank You for giving me a renewed focus to wisely use the time that You have given me on this earth. Amen.”

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my stars, I am so glad that you are okay. That will definitely make your heart beat faster. A scary way to put things in perspective.
K.

Anonymous said...

My heart is racing just reading about it! So glad you are safe and thankful that God spared you for another day.h

Alyssa said...

K - It was very scary. Afterwards I thought about the bad wreck that you were in; we've both been spared a time or two!

SP - Me too! Worship took on new meaning in church yesterday.

TJ Wilson said...

BITS - Yikes. Glad you could see the Lord in that, I'd still be shaking! Interesting how many times He saves us with no comprehension on our part.

Alyssa said...

TJ - I think the fact that I was on the way to church helped put me in the mindset of being on the lookout for God.