Close Calls

When I was 16 years old I was driving my Daddy’s new Ford home from school one afternoon. I had several of my buddies in the car with me and was showing off. Driving way too fast, I topped a hill on a two lane rural highway only to see a school bus unloading children about 100 yards ahead. About 50 yards ahead was a small dirt and gravel road off to the right. To avoid hitting the bus and running over a dozen or more children, my only option was to try to make the turn into the dirt road. It all happened so fast, I can’t begin to describe how I made that turn. It was a miracle the car did not roll over, that I did not hit the bus or any children, and that we were not all killed. All I can surmise that God’s hand was on us and his mercy spared us in a close call.

I was forty nine years old Labor Day Weekend in 1988 as I walked around a hot and crowded arts and craft show with my wife. When I began to have mild chest pains I looked around for available assistance and saw an ambulance parked at the top of a hill near the restrooms. Without mentioning the chest pains I steered us toward the restrooms. After using the restroom and resting briefly in the shade, the pains went away; assuming indigestion, I made no mention of them. However, the pains returned the following Thursday night with a vengeance and we went to the doctor on Friday morning. After an EKG, he sent me immediately to Saint Joseph’s Hospital for consultation with cardiologists. I was admitted to the hospital and for the next six days underwent a series of tests. On Wednesday evening the cardiologist advised me that they would do a catheterization on Thursday and let me go home on Friday. If surgery was needed, they would schedule it in a few weeks since they were backlogged at that time. After the test Thursday, I was advised that by-pass surgery was scheduled for the following morning. I protested the timing, reminding the cardiologist that I was told I would go home Friday and come back in a few weeks if surgery was needed. He smiled and patted my hand patronizingly and said “we’re not sure you have a few weeks”. I think for the first time in my life I suddenly faced my own mortality. The surgery was successful and in a few weeks I was back to my normal routine; once again God had allowed me to escape a close call.

One summer I was late leaving Atlanta, driving to a convention in Florida. Driving much too fast down Interstate 75, I encountered a gentleman in a new BMW who was evidently running late also. We were making very good time, running side by side when we encountered a jack-knifed tractor trailer blocking the Interstate ahead. A State Trooper was already on the scene. When I tried to stop the car, it slid all over the road and rocked back and forth on two wheels. The BMW had similar problems. When we finally stopped, we had rubbed off each other, damaging the paint, but no serious damage had occurred. Only a miracle kept us from hitting each other, rolling over, or hitting the wreck in the road ahead. Once again, God had spared me in a close call.

After a work-out session in late September 2007 I noticed a heartbeat in my lower abdomen. I don’t know a lot about anatomy, but I was sure my heart should be higher in the body. I consulted with my physician who sent me for a cat scan where they discovered a large aortic aneurysm in my abdomen. I was rushed through the preliminaries for admission to the hospital for surgery. The aneurysm was successfully repaired on October 8th. The surgeon told me they usually operated on these aneurysms when they reached 5cm and mine was over 9. He added that this was the largest aneurysm he had seen outside of an autopsy. Had it gone un-repaired, within a few months it could have been fatal for me. Once again God had allowed me to escape a close call.

These close calls come readily to mind; I don’t know how many more there may have been that I’ve forgotten, or how many others of which I was never aware. I remember reading about multiple incidents of people being late for work for various reasons on 9/11 and being spared when their building came down. Matthew 10:29-31 tells us that the very hairs of our head are numbered and not a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father’s notice. It also tells us not to fear because we are of more value than many sparrows. The Lord works in mysterious ways; the next time you’re stuck in traffic or have a flat tire, remember it’s possible that you are being spared a much worse fate if you had not been delayed or inconvenienced.

“I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free, For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.”(Martin) With God’s eye on us, we need not fear anything on this earth.

We make schedules and plans; but remember Proverbs 16:9; “A man’s heart deviseth his way; but the Lord directeth his steps.” Unexpected inconveniences can be opportunities, look around for why God has you there at that time.