God is my Pilot – and Donna’s too!

My friend, Donna, had a traumatic experience the other day, and shared this testimony. Be sure to read to the end!
Susan


Brothers and sisters,
I want to share something. I had a harrowing experience this morning — a near crash that could have been disastrous. The only explanation I can give for the many factors that came together to save me was that Jesus was in that car with me.


I was coming down a short stretch of Route 23 South that I take most mornings. I am only on the highway for less than 1/4 mile. I get on Route 23 at the West Belt service road just before the interchange with Routes 46 and 80, and I immediately exit for Route 46 West/Route 23 South. The exit ramp merges down from two lanes into one. I was in the left, merging into the right. I was conscious of there being unusually little traffic.


Suddenly, to my left, I saw a gray pick-up truck crossing the median and coming toward me. It was one of those low medians — all cement and about 6-7 inches high, but about 15 feet wide. He was crossing from the right lane on the other side of the median that would have taken him to Route 46 East, and he was coming straight for me on my driver’s side. Since I knew he was crossing the median, and he was aiming right for me, I assumed he had lost control of his vehicle. I hardly had anywhere to go. To my right was another cement median, about the width of a sidewalk and also about 6-7 inches high. On the other side of that median, traffic merges onto the same ramp that I was on, and I didn’t even have time to look to see whether any cars were coming.


The truck was running me to my right. I could see him so close — I kept waiting for the impact. He was coming, coming…I had no choice…my right tires went up on the median. Before I knew it, I was straddling the median with my tires on either side of it. I kept waiting for the impact, but then the pick-up driver finally saw me and got back in his lane. Fortunately, my median ended there, and there was no one in the lane to the right of me, so I was back on solid ground in the right lane. However, I had heard that horrible scraping sound of the metal under my car as I had coasted over the median.


By this time, the truck had gotten ahead of me and was continuing toward Route 46 West, and it did not appear that he was going to stop. I kept following him and got close enough to memorize his license plate. When I realized he might not even be stopping, I began to flash my lights at him. I was actually successful in pulling him over! He pulled into a strip mall parking lot, and I stopped alongside him. I was shaking, but I got out of the car and looked at him and said, “What on earth happened?”


He said, “I’m running late for work. I looked and didn’t see anything coming. I thought it would be all right. I just didn’t even see you.” He had deliberately made that decision to cross the median to save time! Can you imagine???


He was shaken, too, and he kept apologizing profusely. He said the only reason we didn’t crash was because I did some amazingly good driving there. (Well, thanks a lot, buddy — but during the moments of crisis, I wasn’t exactly driving…I was just reacting.) He didn’t see me until the last minute — when I was already on the median.


Then he realized what he had done. I told him, “You know, the only reason we didn’t crash was because God was with us. It is only by the grace of God that you are going to get to work today at all, let alone late. It is a miracle we are both alive and uninjured, and that our cars never even touched.” He acknowledged that and kept apologizing. I told him that I wanted all his information in case the bottom of my car was damaged. He didn’t hesitate to give it to me. In fact, he crawled under my car and looked — said he didn’t see any damage, but I wouldn’t have counted on it. But he kept saying, “I have to get to work.” I finally suggested, “Can’t you call work and tell them what happened and that you’ll be late?” He said, “No. I can’t. I just can’t be late.” He was very anxious about it.


After I took all his info, and he was on his way, I called my boss and explained what happened. I told her that I was going straight to our son-in-law Mario’s shop (our mechanic) to have him look under the car and see if there was any damage. Mario put it up on the lift and could see the white marks on my tires where I had jumped the curb onto the median and the fresh scrapes underneath, but incredulously, all the scrapes were on the major support rails of the car. They were not serious, nothing was punctured or broken, no parts had been hit, no hoses ripped, the alignment looked good and my tires were fine. Even Mario said it was a miracle.


When I left Mario’s, I took the same route back to work to see exactly where all of this had transpired and what the conditions were. Just a few feet before the spot where that guy was coming at me fast, the median to my right had been a two-foot high concrete divider! It graduated down to a low curb-high type median almost exactly at the spot I jumped it. The place where the truck had crossed his wider median on the left came just before a two-foot high median began on the left side of the left lane. If he had hit me and bounced back, he’d have hit that median. Or if he’d have hit the median and bounced back, he might have hit me. So many things could have happened. There could have been a car in the right lane where I ended up. I could have flipped over when I went up the median. I could have lost control of my car. I shudder to think.


But I am absolutely fine, and so is the other driver. In the end, I have the perfect peace of God, KNOWING that He was there with me. There is NO WAY we didn’t crash except for God’s intervention. Jesus was driving my car today.


Now why did this happen to me today? I prayed this morning for God to give me an opportunity to witness to someone today. [Don’t you love God’s faithfulness?] Well, since I arrived at the office this morning, I have already had more than ample opportunites to share the miracle of God’s delivera nce with my coworkers. But there’s more to it, I think. There was something about this young man in the truck. He was desperate about being late for work. Obviously, his job is at risk if he is late. Here is a man who was driven by desperation to do something life-threatening. And God spared him from disaster as well. He could have been very badly hurt. He could have killed me. He could have incurred very expensive damage to both of our vehicles. He was definitely guilty of reckless endangerment. I think God wants me to write him a letter and let him know that, by God’s grace, he was saved from calamity today. I want to encourage him to thank God and walk with Him because his life can be much better and much easier. [Funny how God provided me with his address.]


I am praying for the right words to say.


And I will thank God all day long for his mercy and protection on me.


I have passed this sign on a church message board on Alps Road in Wayne more than once this week. It says, “If God is your co-pilot, swap seats.” Praise God, He is my pilot every day, and He proved it today.

Find rest my soul, in Christ alone; know His power, in quietness and trust.When the oceans rise and thunders roar, I will soar with You above the storm,Father, You are King over the flood; I will be still and know You are God.(“Still” by Reuben Morgan, Hillsong Publishing)