God's Mercy And Protection
One Saturday morning around 6:30am I was on my
home from working midnight shift. As I was traveling down Ridgeview
Drive (a VERY hilly road) the Lord spoke to my heart and said, “Son, slow down.” I looked
at my speedometer and I was only doing 15 to 20 mph in a 35mph zone
because I was going around a sharp curve. I thought that was weird
so I began to do the speed limit as the road straightened out. Again,
I heard, “Son, you need to slow down.” Thinking that I was loosing
my mind I began to slow down anyway. As I began to slow down the
Lord kept prompting me, “Slower.” “Slower.” He'd say. I slowed down
so much that I am now stopped in the middle of the road near the
South Clinton Football Field at 6:30 in the morning with no other
vehicles on the road (or so I thought). As I was sitting there wondering
what I was doing, a vehicle came up to the intersection on the other
side of the field on Unika St. Not knowing what I was doing he began
to pull out. As soon as he did another vehicle was coming down the
road. The road was so hilly that it was very hard to see if any vehicles
were coming. So the truck began to pull out into this dangerous intersection
and the oncoming car had to swerve into my lane to miss hitting that
truck. The car then went out of control and began sliding side ways
in MY lane (the car by all rights should have flipped over). Some
how the driver of the car regained control and missed the front of
my cruiser by a few feet.
A short distance down the road, I turned my blue
lights on and stopped the truck to see if the driver was intoxicated.
As I exited my patrol car I smelled alcohol coming from his vehicle.
I said, “Sir, have
you been drinking?” He said, “No Sir, I am a minister from Sevierville,
TN and I was called by this man (a passenger in the vehicle) to take
him home because he had too much to drink. I said, “Sir, do you know
that God spared us back there?” He said, “I sure do.” After a brief
conversation the man went on his way. One week later I was in my
church at Clinton Christ Fellowship I and felt the need to share
this story to the congregation. So I did. I started out by saying, “I
want to thank God for HIS protection...” and I told the church this
story. When I sat down a lady who sat across the isle from me stood
up and said, "I too, want to thank God for HIS protection because
that was me in that car." This lady is Edwina Sorrells, our
Pastor's sister-in-law and a very good friend of my family. She said, "I
lost all control of that car and I don't know how I got it back.
I was on my way to work and I was wondering why a police car was
sitting in the middle of the road at 6:30 in the morning. Now I know."
Praise the Lord for HIS protection and for HIS mercy. God in HIS
wonderful way spared three lives that morning. Had I not listened
to the Holy Spirit I would have hit that car in the driver's door
and possibly killed the driver, whom I learned later was my good
friend.
Even when if don't understand “why”, If we are
faithful to God he will guide us and protect us from things we
know nothing of. It was very hard for me to sit there in the middle
of the road for those few seconds (especially on a Saturday morning
with no one supposedly going
to work) but had I not listened to the Master, someone may have been
hurt or killed. I GIVE JESUS ALL THE PRAISE AND GLORY!!!!
(This is documented on a recorded church service
tape)
© February 1997
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