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