In a recent Sunday School lesson we studied Genesis 28, in which Jacob experiences a dream from God then awakens to say, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
Have you ever had that moment?
Every time I hear those words, I think of an incident a few years ago during a car trip from Alabama to Wisconsin. We were driving on Interstate 294, the bypass around Chicago. It’s an intense stretch of freeway — four or five lanes across, bumper to bumper, everybody streaking by at 80 miles an hour. As if that wasn’t treacherous enough, on this day it happened to be pouring rain. The pavement was wet and slick.
Losing control
I was in the far left lane when I noticed some sort of motion to my left. It took me a second to realize that a car, roaring up from behind, had lost control and spun off the road. I glanced over in time to see the vehicle do a 360-degree spin, smash into the retaining wall, then bounce back onto the freeway directly in front of me. I remember thinking there was no way I could avoid crashing into his back bumper.
I hit the brakes and began to skid. His momentum was still propelling him forward as well. Somehow, some way, we both came to a stop without colliding. There couldn’t have been more than a foot between us when our cars came to rest. Sharon and I sat dumbfounded for a moment, trying to process the surreal event that had just taken place.
Divine providence
Looking back on it now, there had to be at least three acts of divine providence there. Not only was it miraculous that I was able to stop in time, but it was equally miraculous that the cars behind me were able to stop without causing a chain-reaction crash. Then the driver of the wrecked car gave us a wave, indicating he was alright, and was actually able to drive his battered vehicle over to the shoulder, out of harm’s way.
I was shaken and feeling my heart pounding faster than the speeding cars around me. I took the next exit and pulled into a parking lot to calm down.
Surely the Lord was present on that freeway and I did not know it. But I think next time we’ll take a different route.
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