My Adventure on May 2, 2005

The shoulder that I thought was typically sized wasn’t. The Springtime vegetation was deceptively hiding the additional fact that the ground was soft and slightly rocky, not allowing for any traction. My right front tire dug into the dirt and the momentum of my truck propelled me yet onward. Before I realized my efforts to get back up onto the road were in vain, the left front tire was also making tracks in the green growth. I was headed at an angle down the embankment and towards a huge boulder.

Because it was so fast, I’m not sure at what exact moment it happened, but my vehicle became airborne, flipped onto its roof and slid to rest atop the boulder I’d seen. The driver’s side was up against a tree – planted by God years ago to keep me from sliding further down and into the river.

One would think that this was a terrifying “flight”, but I sensed a peace fill the truck. Being upside down disoriented me slightly, but I never lost consciousness. I unbuckled my seat belt and, as my once-scratchless prized possession was at an awkward 75° angle, I stood on the back window and called 911 from my cell phone. It took a few minutes to sink in what exactly had taken place, during which time various thoughts raced through my mind. One of those was the realization that this was the second time in one day I’d been displaced from the road. A semi tractor-trailer had earlier moved over into my lane, necessitating an evasive move onto the shoulder of the road. While I waited, I kept thanking God for protecting and saving my life.

It was about 10 minutes after my call that a few guys noticed my predicament and worked to pull me out the passenger side back seat window. It wasn’t easy squeezing through the narrow opening of the partially mashed window. I was covered in shattered glass and I spit a few pieces out of my mouth. I had to go feet first and put my feet on the one guy’s shoulders as I slid out on my back, trying to avoid the jagged glass remnants. Another man grabbed my hand and arm to assist my balance during the exit, and a third took over to help pull me up the steep incline.

At the top, several other people had stopped. One woman was quite concerned and told me I needed to have my forehead checked – blood had covered it – yet there was only a small scratched spot requiring nothing more than cleaning up. A block had been put on my phone in case the emergency crew had to contact me again, so I borrowed another phone to call my wife. As we were hanging up, the ambulance and fire truck arrived and I was checked from head to toe. One EMS man asked if there was anyone else with me, and when I replied, “Just God’s angel,” he looked like he thought either I was nuts or hallucinating. He asked me other questions before he was satisfied that I was not suffering any brain trauma. The other worker was amazed at my normal condition as he stared at my destroyed vehicle.

“Boy were you lucky!” was the most common lament I heard that night. I prefer to say that I was blessed and protected by my Maker. What else can you say when by all appearances I should be walking streets of gold right now. I learned that if I had gone off the road just 40 feet sooner, I’d have continued to slide down the embankment and reached the river before I knew what happened. Instead, a Rock and a Tree stopped me. I capitalize those words because the one who is known as The Rock of our Salvation, and Tree of Life was surely there.

The pictures actually tell how divinely protected I was. While the passenger seat beside me was smashed flat, the area where I sat appeared as if encased in a type of bubble. It was a bubble, alright! One created by an angel sent to make sure I walked out of that situation with nothing more than a couple of scratches and some soreness. One of the most interesting photos we took was a particular angle through the driver’s window. Something seen there intrigues me and definitely smacks of the supernatural.

In the wild ride I took, everything that was in the cab of the truck left its place of rest and wound up in the back…the ash tray that normally had to be wiggled out of its place in the dash (and all the spare change we keep there), the Atlas that usually stays under the armrest console, my sunglasses that normally are either on my head or in the cubby up above me, etc. You get the picture. However, the empty soda cans that sat in the cup holder did not fall when my status changed to the upside down position. I’ve been asked about special gripper mats, but rubber is not a magnet to aluminum. The cup holders were not the gripper type, either – they were the regular kind that any mug or can are set down into.

How did they stay? Perhaps the angel had his foot on them. I don’t know. What I do know is that the law of gravity says they should have fallen. God is so good!