Saturday morning I was driving from Sarasota to Orlando Florida for a Jesus Alliance meeting with a friend who was there for a Christian Businessman Connection leadership event, (CMBC). I was traveling North on I-75 in the middle lane and traffic was moving along near 80 miles an hour. Suddenly a van in the fast lane veered off the road and slammed into a concrete barrier making a very loud noise. I was sickened as I saw the vehicle careening wildly back onto the expressway coming directly at me.
At that precise moment, I knew I would be hit and sure enough BAM! The sound was sickening and deafening as the driver slammed into my car just past the left rear door and immediately spun my car around 180 degrees and suddenly I was traveling at 70 MPH in reverse facing traffic.
KA-Wham! – Wham! I slammed into the concrete barrier wall with the right front of my car and then the right rear end of my car banged into the concrete barrier and I traveled another 100 yards backwards down the expressway. Finally, mercifully, my vehicle came to a stop in the fast lane facing oncoming traffic. I braced myself as I saw car after car sliding around at high rates of speed trying to avoid the other vehicle and mine. It is amazing how much went through my mind in what could only have been mere seconds, but I was fully expecting to meet God and soon!
The car that hit mine had spun around due to the severe collision with my car and was now sitting broadside blocking the two slow lanes of traffic with the badly damaged front end and bumper hanging down and gas spilling onto the expressway. Cars in those two right lanes were sliding around trying to avoid hitting that vehicle broadside and as soon as they passed in the fast lane, they would see my car facing them as it sat stalled. Several almost crashed themselves trying to avoid hitting either car.
At my first opportunity, I exited my vehicle and jumped over the concrete barrier wall to avoid being hit head-on by that speeding traffic. I saw the young lady in the van that had hit me with her head and arms out of the window wildly waving her arms trying to slow traffic down and avoid having someone crash into her stalled van broadside.
Finally, traffic began to slow down and miraculously no more vehicles were involved in the crash. I was approximately 100 yards down the road from the vehicle that hit mine, but I could clearly see something that made my heart leap. The van was full of children, (I learned later that 9 little kids were in there and were traveling to a football game.)
OMG!
After some length of time a fire truck slowly came up I-75 driving directly into oncoming traffic as did an ambulance and then the highway patrol. I had been standing there but had to sit down due to a bad L5 disc in my lower back that was announcing its displeasure and then I got nauseous. I assume that I derived a mild concussion when the car slammed into me or when my car crashed into the concrete barrier. I felt queasy and my back hurt some, but elected not to go to the hospital. Amazingly no one in the other car was hurt.
The highway patrolman told me the girl driving the van had endured a blowout and that is what caused the accident. I talked to her and some others briefly as we waited for tow trucks and to a person we praised God that we survived what could have been.
My car was in such a mess that it could not be towed and they called for a flatbed truck to haul it away. My wife was driving home from Tallahassee and I didn’t have a ride or anyone to pick me up, so I asked the patrolman to take me to a nearby mall where I could call Uber for a ride back to my home.
As we rode along I began to talk to the police officer and he seemed unhappy and sad, and very discouraged. Being a police officer he sees the worst of humanity which too often affords him a negative view of life that is difficult to cope with. He was disheartened that he did not get an opportunity to go to college due to getting started too early on a family which necessitated his taking a job as a police officer to feed his family. I told him that he was still very young and had his entire life ahead of him. I told him that I didn’t start my first business of 20 until I was 35 and he had plenty of time.
As we continued to talk I reached into my bag and got out a copy of our new book, Crazy Like Foxes, and gave him a copy. I told him that my success had come from what was relayed in that book, and in particular, following Jesus Christ. He was deeply appreciative and right before he left he told me that he’d recently seen a wreck nearly identical to the one I had just endured and 6 people were seriously injured, two critically. He told me we were very “lucky”.
I smiled and told him that it was not “luck”, rather we had been blessed by God. I added that I supposed that God wasn’t done with me or the other occupants yet and our purpose for being on this planet was incomplete. I suppose angels watched over us and deprived Satan of taking us out prior to our appointed time.
After having spent the last 18 1/2 years of writing Words for the Day five times a week admittedly it does get tedious at times. This morning though I’m very happy to be blessed with the opportunity to write it and in fact be alive and well. I was also VERY happy to have a copy of our book which contains everything that patrolman needs to know about how to find the peace of God that surpasses human understanding through Jesus Christ. I will likely never know if our book had an impact on him or not, but I’m believing the Lord is going to bless him through it. It was difficult to write this book in addition to all else I have going on, but if it helps this one young man it will all be well worth it. If you are getting a little tired of serving the Lord, look at it like I do today. My friends it is a blessing just to have the opportunity and I for one am thankful for it!
You know, we aren’t guaranteed any time on this earth. Make the most of your time today, won’t you?
1 John 2:17
And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
February 6 2017 – Click here to listen