That day, in June of 2009, was gray, as the rain poured from the heavens. We were in the process of moving, packing up all we owned to move to another state. My husband, and oldest son, were in the truck ahead, pulling a trailer behind. I was with our son and daughter in my Camry. We had one of the cats in her carrier in the back seat.
The rain was hard as we drove north on I-75 that day, as we crossed over Jellico mountain. I didn’t have the radio on, I wasn’t talking to the kids, absolutely no phones were used…I was concentrating on my driving in this east Tennessee summer deluge. I had no idea, as the minutes ticked, as rivulets of water poured across my windshield, what would happen…in one heart pounding moment.
There was so much water on the road. I was focused on driving behind my husband, and keeping an eye on the loaded trailer. My car’s tires lost contact with the pavement. The car jerked violently sideways, across lanes of oncoming traffic. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The moment froze, for what seemed an eternity. I heard myself scream. Then we were ripped back to reality, as the car careened across the interstate heading for the solid rock wall of Jellico mountain, that I-75 sliced through. In that one brief moment, the car jolted again, caught pavement and threw us backwards, like a sling shot, back across several lanes of traffic in the opposite direction. We went, 50 mph backwards down an embankment of dirt, all four tires blew out, and the under carriage of the car dug hard into the ground…before we hit the mountain of trees behind us.
After checking the kids (we were all seat belted in) and the cat, and realizing we were all okay, I breathed deeply. Shock. Horror. Crying. Emotional. I called my husband, who was further up the road and had not witnessed the accident in the rain. I called the insurance company, and the police. Some people stopped to make sure we were okay, some sped by with not even a glance. After my husband circled back around and the car was towed, we ended up in a small Tennessee town. We had to wait on a rental car, transfer all the stuff from the Camry to the other car…in the pouring rain. The church across the road was having a service. We needed boxes or bags to put stuff in from the totaled car. We walked over. We looked soaking wet, emotional, and bone tired after hours of the after math of the wreck. They could have took one look at us and turned away. Instead they took us in, fed us, and offered to help in any way that they could. They were Jesus’ hands and feet to us that evening. They were a living testimony of what it is to be Christ’s followers.
I look back on that day, and I still get goosebumps. I feel the terror of having no control over my car. It washes over me. I am very aware of the fact that it could have ended differently. If I had been going faster the car could have flipped, if the cars in front of me or behind me had been any closer, it might have been a multi-vehicle crash, if the tires hadn’t caught pavement when they did we would have went head long into solid mountain rock. If the car had hydroplaned just less than a mile further up the road, we could have easily gone through a small guard rail and plummeted thousands of feet to our deaths, down the side of a mountain. I am grateful that the only thing destroyed that day was my car. God was merciful to us that day, in that moment. I don’t understand the reasons, as I know that so many aren’t as fortunate as we were.
One thing that I learned from this experience is this…..I am not in control. We all like to think we are, but it just isn’t true. We never have been in control. God, and He alone, holds our futures in HIs hand. Our days have already been numbered in HIs book, before even one of them came to be. I did not wake up that morning, thinking that that day could be my last….but, if it had been, I was ready. My son was ready, my daughter was ready. No question where we would spend our eternity.
Friends, do you have that same confidence? Do you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, where you will spend eternity? The start of your forever could be 50 years from now, or it could be this afternoon. Don’t leave your eternal destiny to chance.
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Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (We all do things that are wrong–sometimes others can see our sin, but sometimes our sin is hidden in our own hearts. We know it is there. None of us is perfect or blameless.)
Romans 5:8 “But, God demonstrates his own love for us in this; while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Jesus died for you. A perfect, sinless life, laid down to take your place. He knew that you would one day walk this earth, and when he took your place, your name, your face, was on his mind.)
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (It is not God’s desire for anyone to perish–but, that is what sin does to people, we die….that is why Jesus stepped in the gap between the darkness of sin that brings death and eternal life with the One true Living God.)
Romans 10:9-10 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (This couldn’t be more simple. One cannot work their way to Heaven. The price has already been paid—you just need to acknowledge it.)
It Just Dawned On Me 