Staring at the face in the mirror – the morning after the 7-car pileup on an Atlanta highway – I wondered … why me? Or perhaps a better question … why not me?
It had been just a few hours earlier that I had found myself gripping my steering wheel, waiting for what was sure to be a horrible crash. I had just pulled around a semi-truck in the middle lane, accelerating to get past his 18 wheels quickly, when I saw a small car in the lane ahead of me … its blinkers on.
At first, I thought the car was simply going slow and I prepared to slow down, too. But it only took a second to realize that the car had actually stopped in the middle of the lane. I began to furiously pump my brakes, hoping and praying that my car would stop without hitting the vehicle in front of me.
Good brakes. Mission accomplished. My car came to a stop.
But then came the awful realization that there were dozens of cars behind me – and we all seemed in a rush to get home from some spring break trip – barreling down the highway. For a second, I thought I should try to get out of the lane in order to avoid the crash. But traffic was intense. There was no escaping.
It was in that moment I came face-to-face with the possibility that I was going to die on that highway.
Upon further reflection, I have come to realize that we should come face-to-face with that possibility every day, no matter where we are. Because death comes like a thief in the night – without warning and without second chances.
Every day we wake up and draw our first breath, we should praise God for giving us another day to live. As my father used to say: Live today like it’s your last day on earth. Because it might just be.
On that rainy highway, I gripped the steering wheel tighter, closed my eyes and winced in the anticipation of pain that was sure to come.
And sure enough, BAM, we were hit from behind. And then BAM, that person was hit. And then another one. And another.
When it was all over, I looked around at my three passengers – we were all OK. Family members two cars behind us were also OK. We were left to clean up the mess, deal with the police and exchange insurance information … and to wonder how we were all so lucky.
How is it that car after car, crunch after crunch, vehicles could fill up the high-speed lane of I-20 and do so without death or serious injury? Who has not seen the headlines or the video clips of terrible, fatal tragedies when a semi could not stop before slamming into a row of stopped vehicles?
I could almost write the headline: “Indiana family wiped out on Georgia highway.” But it never happened. The new headline, if a story was written: Indiana family miraculously survives 7-car pileup.
It did not make sense last Friday night and it does not make sense today.
But then you read today’s readings, and a few key phrases jump out …
“Blessed are all who take refuge in the Lord …”
We were definitely feeling the blessings of God Friday night! But shouldn’t we recognize those blessings each day?
“You are my Son; this day I have begotten you.”
And so it is … each day of our lives. No matter where you are in your faith life – even if you doubt the existence of God – it is by God’s will that you live, just as it within His will that you shall die.
On His time, not yours. Not mine, apparently.
“The wind blows where it wills …”
I was driving my car, but I was not in control. Just as I walk in the woods, but cannot control a falling tree.
We are called upon daily to do things, but we are never truly in control.
When miracles happen in our lives, we often rejoice in our good luck and good fortune. That is all well and good.
But let’s not forget to say a prayer of thanksgiving to our creator, who continues to hold our lives in His hands, no matter how hard we grip our steering wheels.
