| Author | Thread |
|
|
04/03/2006 10:30:24 PM · #1 |
It is good to be alive!
Every now and then God gives us a reminder of just what a blessing life is, and how much he watches over us....
Tonight on my way home from work around 8pm, I'd been working late and it was raining. I was on I-91 heading south and had just come over a hill when I watch the car in front of me shift lanes only to see just a couple hundred feet in front of me a car parked at an angle in the middle of the lane with it's hazards on. There wasn't much time to stop, in fact, my mind evaluated the situation and determined that there would not be enough time to come to a stop. Meanwhile, as this was the first rain of the season and a fairly light one at that, the pavement was very slick with all the oil from the cars. My small Honda began to hydroplane and I knew if I tried to stop I would smash thru the car just a 100 ft in front of me.
It was at this moment that I made a decision. If I continued, it was certain death. I do not think I'd survive a 60-65mph collision in my old '86 Honda Accord. There's no air bag, and it's really not much more than an over-glorified go kart. I did not want to die 6 weeks before my wedding day. It would have been too sad. And I am not sure my Kimberley could handle such a travesty. (I know I couldn't.) My heart made cried a minute prayer to the Lord. Those prayers where you utter not a word but your heart says "Need you NOW Lord!!!!".
So I decided that the guard rail was softer than an impact. And with luck I might careen off the guard rail and survive. With that, I turned the wheel to the right and tried to regain traction, hoping I wouldn't careen off the highway. I watched as the vehicle drew nearer and finally felt the wheels regain traction and turn away from a head on collision toward the guard rail...
I literally watched the side of the other car pass mere inches from me like a speeding subway train. Realizing that I had managed to avoid hitting the car I endeavored to avoid slamming into the guard rail. Miraculously I was able to regain control and found myself back within the lane on a clear highway. A bit shaken and very much thankful to be alive. Somehow I had avoided impact, regained control of the vehicle, swerved around the disable vehicle into the break down lane, and avoided the guard rail and brought the car back into steady control.
I know that I am an excellent driver, and I've avoided a similar situation before (when a mini-Van flipped upside down right in front of me). And I believe God has gifted me with a peculiar mind for when these sorts of things occur it seems as if time slows down a bit for me. My brain over-clocks or something and processes at an extrordinary pace; as all of the above that you read occurred in probably less than 3-seconds. That said, I believe that God truly is the one who protected me in this situation both thru a combination of the gifts and skills He's given me and thru direct and miraculous intervention.
Thank you my Lord, I did not want to depart quite so soon, and not leave my Kimberley alone in such a way...thank you my Lord!
- Jason
Message edited by author 2006-04-03 22:30:53.
|
|
|
|
04/03/2006 10:35:14 PM · #2 |
| I'm glad you're alive and well. I truly believe that God watches over us, and I'm very thankful for it, and for you being OK. |
|
|
|
04/03/2006 10:35:36 PM · #3 |
Holy cow! Glad that you're still with us, Saj! It's amazing how things work out in those moments in life - miracles do happen. And they remind us of our mortality and that we shouldn't take things for granted.
And congrats on your upcoming wedding, with best wishes :D
|
|
|
|
04/03/2006 10:39:18 PM · #4 |
| dont you wanna go to heaven? :p |
|
|
|
04/03/2006 10:43:57 PM · #5 |
and in six weeks from now your beautiful bride will have one more thing to be thankful for. Congratulations on make a wise split second decision and congratulations on you up coming wedding. God must have something good in mind for you!
|
|
|
|
04/03/2006 10:44:17 PM · #6 |
Jason,
It's great to know that all worked out well. Your description is one of the first things I learned in driver's ed, and I still remember to this day:
"IPDE"
Identify (the situation)
Predict (what could happen)
Decide (what you are going to do)
Execute (your plan)
It's amazing how quickly the human mind can process those four steps.
|
|
|
|
04/03/2006 10:45:27 PM · #7 |
| Glad you made it through! Did you happen to go back and help the people stuck on the side of the road? |
|
|
|
04/03/2006 10:52:11 PM · #8 |
I am glad you are safe, must have been quite scary.
Even the older Accords are built pretty well. Have a blast at your wedding ! |
|
|
|
04/03/2006 10:52:46 PM · #9 |
I bet your camera/lens problems seem trivial now :)
|
|
|
|
04/03/2006 10:57:02 PM · #10 |
|
|
|
04/03/2006 11:00:17 PM · #11 |
Saj i know exactly how you feel, i was on the page last sunday, just obvisouly not at the top. I had three girls under 13 in my car, travelling at 5.40am ( still very dark) to a netball carnival 2 hours away. When i come up and over a hill where the idiot coming the other way has his highbeam on, and wouldn't budge on taking them off, after i flashed him with my lights a couple of times i slowed down thinking 'what a d*khead' then we seen them, looking back at us through the windscreen, two BIG jumping kangaroos. BOOM BOOM... yep ploughed straight over them. I knew instantly not to brake, that that would make things worse, i knew to just keep straight and try not to swerve to far from the impact. Those few seconds seem to take ages, i even remember looking at the 'di*khead' in the car next to me, i couldn't seen him except that he had a boat on the back, and there were two more roo's jumping between us. I slowed up but quickly realised the person behind me had obviously not seen a thing ( i now know why, as i knew her, and she was NOT wearing her glasses) and had caught up to me real quick, so i couldn't stop either as there was a gaurd rail right next to us, so we stopped a bit down the road. Yep, we were safe, luckily, but boy, it sure is a shake up.... i know my little angel was sitting on my shoulder that morning....
< thanks angel with hands together>
im so glad to hear your ok, we actually had a friend killed just 500 mtrs from where this happened to me about 5 years ago, 6 weeks before his wedding, all invites were sent out and it was the day of his 21st birthday, Geoffory will be 21 forever...
|
|
|
|
04/03/2006 11:06:12 PM · #12 |
I'm glad you're OK.... would've missed you.
|
|
|
|
04/03/2006 11:15:57 PM · #13 |
Originally posted by crayon:
dont you wanna go to heaven? :p |
Not quite yet, wouldn't want to take myself away from my Kimberley cause I know she needs me.
Message edited by author 2006-04-03 23:16:05. |
|
|
|
04/03/2006 11:17:24 PM · #14 |
Originally posted by Nobody:
No pictures???? |
ROTFL, when I posted this one thought was... "darn it, too bad I couldn't have whipped out my camera phone and got a shot of the car whizzing by..." |
|
|
|
04/03/2006 11:19:21 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by roadrunner:
im so glad to hear your ok, we actually had a friend killed just 500 mtrs from where this happened to me about 5 years ago, 6 weeks before his wedding, all invites were sent out and it was the day of his 21st birthday, Geoffory will be 21 forever... |
:(
Could have so so very easily of been me tonight. |
|
|
|
04/03/2006 11:19:40 PM · #16 |
so very glad you are ok and was able to get around that safely. God was truly with you.
When I first started reading your post I had to double check to make sure you weren't talking about being in Chicago...last night coming home from Kentucky in the rain I passed an on ramp and noticed a vehicle stopped at the bottom with his hazards on. It was really hard to tell if he was in the emergency lane or the on ramp. I checked up the ramp and sure enough a semi was coming down it. I watched in my mirror as the semi quickly overcame the stopped car and suddenly swerved to avoid what would have been a very bad accident.
congratulations also on your wedding, I think you can pretty much say that God approves of this merger.
|
|
|
|
04/03/2006 11:23:32 PM · #17 |
| I'll say a little prayer of thanks for you two tonight. Glad everything came out okay. And congrats on your upcoming wedding! |
|
|
|
04/03/2006 11:27:31 PM · #18 |
| I'm so glad that you made it through the incident. My only question is, didja have to change your shorts when ya got home... |
|
|
|
04/03/2006 11:33:54 PM · #19 |
Originally posted by TooCool:
I'm so glad that you made it through the incident. My only question is, didja have to change your shorts when ya got home... |
No, but the muscle behind my left shoulder tightened for a while... |
|
|
|
04/03/2006 11:35:23 PM · #20 |
| was your fiancee loving and concerened when you got home? |
|
|
|
04/03/2006 11:52:37 PM · #21 |
It is amazing what the Lord can and will do for us when we call on him. Like you said in that moment of silence the heart cries out. I am glad you are ok and I know your family is thankful as well. You have been blessed.
-SDW
Message edited by author 2006-04-03 23:53:17.
|
|
|
|
04/03/2006 11:59:15 PM · #22 |
Originally posted by Little King:
was your fiancee loving and concerened when you got home? |
Well, she's in PA and was in class with her phone off when it happened. She called me as soon as she got my messages. And was very glad that I was alright. :)
|
|
|
|
04/04/2006 12:11:41 AM · #23 |
| Scary stuff. Glad you made it through OK! Nothing like a near-fatal accident to make you forget a broken camera. |
|
|
|
04/04/2006 12:28:02 AM · #24 |
Originally posted by theSaj:
Originally posted by Little King:
was your fiancee loving and concerened when you got home? |
Well, she's in PA and was in class with her phone off when it happened. She called me as soon as she got my messages. And was very glad that I was alright. :) |
that's good
Message edited by author 2006-04-06 16:41:32. |
|
|
|
04/04/2006 12:30:44 AM · #25 |
I was in my Mustang durring a bad snow storm (I had to be out as it was a college class trip that was required) and on the highway going 65-70, my car lost traction (or gained good traction on one side) and sent me spinning through 4 lanes of traffic sideways and backwards. I ended up stopped in the right lane near and exit facing traffic... threw it into reverse, turned around as fast as possible, and took the back roads home...
Message edited by author 2006-04-04 00:31:28. |
|
Home -
Challenges -
Community -
League -
Photos -
Cameras -
Lenses -
Learn -
Help -
Terms of Use -
Privacy -
Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 11/26/2025 12:38:49 PM EST.
