It Can Happen in a Flash

It is amazing how quickly things can change in life. Last night I picked up one of the boys from basketball practice at the Middle School in Bovey. He got in the car and we turned left, headed out of town and we visited about practice. As the town's lights faded in rearview mirror, I accelerated to highway speed. Well, not really. The roads had a little snow on them in places so I was taking it easy. I consider myself to be a safe defensive driver. I probably qualify to wear an "old man's hat." I was paying attention to the road.

Suddenly, there was a totally unexpected Y in the road ahead of me. I was confused, but knew that the left was oncoming traffic, so I veered right onto the snow-covered fork that was fading quickly to the right. I hit the brakes and started to skid, struggling to maintain control and avoid ending up in the ditch.

My headlights suddenly illuminated a stop sign. It was then that I realized what had happened. In the midst of my routine of picking up kids from school and heading home, I had forgotten about the new Bovey bypass and had headed out of town thinking that the road was the same as it was the hundreds of other times I'd picked up the kids. Only now the "old highway out of town" is the "new entrance." So new that they haven't put up any warning signs. There were no "stop ahead" or "keep right" or "curve" signs erected yet. The first clue that I wasn't on the old highway was the Y in the road. And the stop sign confirmed the harsh reality: I was skidding and spinning toward Highway 169 at 5:30 in the evening.

This was not good.

I looked to the left and saw oncoming traffic coming in the distance. If I came to a stop in the highway I doubted that I could make it back to safety before they t-boned me. Now the snowbank became my friend. I used what little control I had to try to hit the snowbank hoping that it would stop me from sliding onto the highway. Fortunately, the back of the car hit the snowbank and we came to a stop pointing back into town without sliding into the oncoming cars. Exhaling for the first time in what seemed like an hour, I looked at my wide-eyed son and said, "That was close."

What struck me was how suddenly everything could have changed. A few more feet and we would have been in a serious . Perhaps even life-threatening. In a flash, the whole ballgame could have been different if not over.

I thought of a couple of things last night. I thought about the security that I have in Christ. How good it is to know without a doubt that I am going to heaven. How good it is to know that He will provide for my family regardless of what happens to me. How good it is to know that He is in control.

The other thing I thought of was other people. On Sunday we talked about people that we are trying to share the gospel with that seem unresponsive. Last night I thought about the fact that their lives can change in a moment. I'm not talking about the real possibility of , but about how circumstances can change and suddenly open a person's heart to the gospel. Tragedy, sickness, marital strife may be in the future for your friend.

Perhaps that's why God is bringing you close to that person now...so that you will be there then. Perhaps that's another reason why we should not lose heart and give up even when we are discouraged about the hardness of heart of the people we are trying to share the gospel with. You never know when they will face an unexpected Y in their road that will make their eternal destination suddenly seem extremely important. When they do, will you be ready with your light and your salt (Mt 5:13-16)?

(update: I picked up the boys tonight...and there is a "stop ahead" sign, So I was wrong about there being no signs. However, the intersection is confusing. For example, there is a "right lane must turn right" sign immediately before the apparent Y in the road. I wanted to turn left onto 169 so what was I to do? One youth group member's parent took the "left fork" and went zooming down the one way...the wrong way! Anyway, it looks to me like an intersection that needs improving before someone gets hurt).