What a Car Accident Can Teach You…

Nights like tonight don’t happen often. To some they don’t happen at all. They are the kind of nights that test what you are made of and reveal exactly what is found. Melissa and I were following Chad on our way to the Oullette’s house and she started to lose control of the car. We ended up spinning around backwards while sliding into the ditch and finally the car flipped over and we were found stuck in an upside down car in two feet of frozen ditch water.

The roads were bad, we weren’t driving unsafe or foolishly. We were simply just driving and following a friend. I pointed out that the roads were pretty bad and we slowed down even more. As the car started to loose its grip on the back tires, its almost as if I could see what was coming ahead of time. I found myself completely understanding the situation before it even happened. As the car was sliding around and we were going into the ditch, I found myself quietly and calmly talking to Melissa and making sure things were all right. As soon as we ended in the ditch I new we were going to flip, and we did just that. As we flipped I found myself oddly calm and made sure Melissa was all right again. I had heard the roof crunch so for some reason I figure that the whole car had crunched. Some how the way I landed (no I wasn’t wearing a seatbelt) and the way that I positioned myself (now sitting on the ceiling inside the car) completely disoriented me to my surroundings. I felt like the doors were smashed shut and so our only option was to go out through the trunk. I was looking for the trunk button but once again had no idea where I was or what I was doing, so I never did find the button. I said a quick prayer out loud, three words to be exact: “God help us.” For some reason the music playing in the cd player started working. Within about 30-45 seconds Melissa’s door was pulled open by someone that saw us go down who had run into the ditch to make sure we were allright. As soon as the door opened though, that’s when the raunchy freezing cold water (that I had no idea we were in) started pouring through.

Then I remembered and I’ll be honest, after I knew Melissa was ok, and the door opened fine all I could think about was my camera. I had just gotten this camera a little while ago that I had been saving up here and there for it since February. I was franticly looking around the water for my camera, and then Melissa handed me my pocket pc, soaking wet in water. About a minute later my hand grasped the camera through the ice and pulled it up dripping wet. I got out of the car, I swore once cause my camera was wrecked and then we preceded on with all the formalities of the night. “We’re ok, thanks for everything.” Called the cops and tow truck (which happened to be my dad). Melissa’s family came and brought us hot chocolate and leave it to my dad to come in the tow truck with my yellow lab and my mom. Kevin called my phone while we were on the road, so he showed up and then Anson saw us when he was driving by (why I love my city so much, even though we were 10 minutes out of the city). I was ready to order pizza to the event.

It took about two hours from the wreck till I could actually get home, and I was freezing all the while, Melissa was just as cold. I think the cop that showed up was on some kind of drug. He talked in a lower voice and just very quick straight to the point question in monotone and without personality. My feet were freezing because they were soaked and I was wearing Mr. Selle’s running shows. My dog was there, both my parents and Melissa’s parents and sister along with three other of our good friends. I lost my brand new camera and my palm pilot to the wells of the ditch. Overall, it was a pretty crappy night. You would think after a night like tonight, I would have someone profound and interesting from my near-death experience. Oh ya, we missed a pole by about 10 feet on our way in. My dad seems to think we could have died, but he adds a lot of drama like that to situations. He’s a ‘what if’ kinda guy sometimes. Really though after everything I’m left with the simple knowledge that God in control and he is watching over me. Whether I die or live, it’s for Christ. I have no fear in death whatsoever. I left knowing that my family loved me and that God had graciously spared our lives. I was so calm during the entire process, and to be honest, this isn’t the first time I’ve been in that situation where I was just abnormally calm. Whether it was some supernatural emotion, or if it is my lack of emotion; whatever it was, it was God.

So maybe I didn’t pull some amazing parallel or illustration from this story like if God was behind the wheel it wouldn’t have happened. Or Satan is the ice always trying to crash us. Or the Bible is kinda like the steering wheel. What I did pull out of this is once again I am that much more appreciative of the things I have and my life. I’m so much more thankful for Melissa and our friendship. I’m so much more thankful that even though I lost a lot of good equipment nothing can remove this joy that God has placed within me.