Close Call

We’ve had freezing rain here for the past couple of days. I love winter and snow, but this stuff is downright dangerous when it comes to driving.

Saturday morning, when my coworker arrived at work, I asked her about the road conditions. She and I live in the same town. Since she had to be to work at 7:00 AM, she drove in through a thick fog in addition to the constant freezing drizzle.

She told me she was concerned about me and we joined hands to say a prayer for my safe travel home. She asked for angels to surround my vehicle as well as any other drivers out there.

After about twenty minutes of scraping and defrosting, I headed for home. The fog had dissipated, but I hadn’t gotten far when I realized my windshield wiper was covered with ice, so every time the blade passed across the glass, it left a film of ice. I pulled off at the convenience store down the street and cleared it off.

As I make a left back out onto the highway, there is a bridge that passes over a railroad track, another highway, and the Arkansas River. I was headed up that overpass when I saw a pickup coming toward me out of control on the icy road. He was literally traveling sideways and came within inches of hitting my pickup. Even though the other vehicle took me completely by surprise, I remained calm and didn’t do anything stupid, like hit my brakes. He skidded past me, did another 360 on the way down the other side as I watched in my rearview mirror, finally straightened out, and went on his way.

I know those angels my coworker prayed for were out in full force. Not only did they prevent our vehicles from colliding, I’m sure one of them was sitting next to me, preventing me from hitting my brakes, which I’m sure would have spun me out of control as well. I never heard any reports of an accident, so I assume the other driver survived unscathed as well.

If I hadn’t had to stop at the convenience store to clean off the wiper blades, I probably would have been traveling faster than I was after making that left turn onto the highway. After working all night, my judgment may have prevented me from slowing down as much as I should on an icy bridge.

Isn’t it wonderful that God answers prayer?

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