10 The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. 11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations. 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.
As if just waking up with another breath was not enough to be thankful for, God has once again moved mountains to show Himself faithful in a most recent occurrence....... Long story short, John has yet to outlive his usefulness here on earth.
Now for the details. Last Friday John was in an accident. While I HATE accidents, it seems like the only ones John has been in are too close for comfort. While I have been the one to get in ALL the accidents here in FL so far (none of which were my fault, thank God) so I suppose it was John's turn to meet a few crazy Florida drivers. His car is a total loss, but these are replaceable. Here is the skinny on what happened.
He was coming home at around 4:45 in rush hour traffic. The road he was traveling on was I-82, which is a 2 lane road that is a main artery between our home and civilization. The speed limit is 60 MPH and while many other left hand turns on this road have a turn lane, where we turn there is NO turn lane.
John was at a complete stop waiting for oncoming traffic to clear so he could make a left hand turn. There was no one behind him at first when all of a sudden a white truck & trailer made a daring move. Not sure if he just wasn't paying attention of just did not want to stop. Instead of rear-ending John he just kept on going driving to the right on the shoulder of the highway which is a grassy area. He did not hit John but it was very startling. About 8 months ago, DOT put some nice barricades in that grassy area to discourage people from doing this. Due to the size of the truck and the rate of speed he was driving, he didn't mind taking out 5 of these barricades. He never did stop.
Since the truck did not slow down, the person behind him did not see John until it was too late. He did not have much time to react to the trucks maneuver, so rather than rear ending John, his 4 door compact car swerved to nick John's left bumper and went into ONCOMING TRAFFIC. Poor John was at a dead stop in between these 2 crazy drivers. Once the guy in the compact car realized that was a VERY POOR DECISION, he immediately turned back into John's car pushing them both off the road. Although the damage on both vehicles was extensive it appears that everyone walked away without extreme injury. The man who hit John had his wife and 2 kids in the car so this could have been a very traumatic event if there had been injuries.Here is the cool God-stuff behind HIS total protection:
- Praise God he was not rear ended by that huge truck and trailer. That could have been a big blow. Could have possibly forced his car into on-coming traffic!
- John does not have AC in his little car so he drives with the windows down. Most days home from work he hangs his arm out the window to catch the breeze. If he had been doing this on that day he would have lost his arm.
- If John had not been at a complete stop during the accident, waiting for oncoming traffic to pass...... if instead he had begun his left hand turn, when the man behind him decided to turn into on-coming traffic he would have been T-boned by the compact car and possible another moving in the opposite direction. Most certainly a fatality or other life altering injuries could have changed his life in drastic ways.
- Although John has some whiplash and muscle soreness, it appears that his injuries may not be all that bad!
- This just so happened during the time my parents were here for a visit so while we went to the ER to get John checked out the kids were safe and sound with grandma & grandpa!
- John and I both got to witness to the other driver and plant some seeds.
This is a scripture that pretty much sums up our thankfulness!
Philipians 1:3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, 5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; 7 just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. 8 For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. 9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
It is amazing to see the Lord's hand in a circumstance that could have been so tragic but yet due to his plans, we get to hang out here a while longer. He is so good to us!
