God's Providence and Protection.
I was recently reminded once again of God's incredible protection in the lives of his children, as I traveled to Colorado for the Father/Son Retreat sponsored by CHEC and Vision Forum. Following is a brief description of the events, along with several photos.
Mike Cheney and his family (his wife, daughter, and son) picked up Brian Howell and myself from Denver International Airport to take us up to Crooked Creek Ranch. After a short break for lunch, we headed up I-70 toward the camp. We were enjoying our conversation - so much so in fact that we missed the exit for US 40 and didn't realize it until almost 5 miles later.
We drove another couple of miles before finding an exit, turned around, and headed back east towards Denver. I-70 at this particular point is a two lane highway, with a paved shoulder on the right, and a wide grass median separating the eastbound and westbound traffic. We traveling in the left lane, and a large 18 wheel trailer was passing us on the right.
What happened next occurred so quickly that it is hard to remember the exact sequence of events. We felt the car lurch, the front right of the van slammed downward, and we heard the screeching sound of metal grating on concrete. Immediately someone exclaimed that we must have had a blowout. As Mr. Cheney slowly guided us over toward the shoulder, his wife exclaimed that the tire was actually passing us on our left. My immediate thought was that the tire must have separated from the rim, but as I looked over I was shocked to see the tire, rim and all, rolling down the highway. It rolled into the median, hit a bump, and bounded onto the other side of the road into oncoming traffic. We all started fervently praying that it wouldn't hit another car, and as if on cue, the tire turned, rolled back down into the median, and came to a stop around 1/4 mile from where we had finally come to rest in the van.
The van is the little speck in the distance on the left side of the road.
What had happened was this... Two of the lug nuts on the tire, either from being overtightened or from some other cause, had been cracked for some time (the face of them had actually rusted), placing extra strain on the remaining three lug nuts which sheered completely off.
Notice the rust on the two lug nuts.
The running board was torn almost completely off.
I won't go into detail about the rest of the afternoon, but suffice it to say that we had the van towed to a shop in Georgetown, and were picked up by a shuttle service which took us to a hotel for the night, and then drove us to the camp the following morning.
At the shop in Georgetown.
The point that I want to make however is this - but for the grace of God all six of us should be dead right now. Had we not missed our exit, we would have been on Berthound Pass at the time - a narrow road with lots of switchbacks, no guardrails in many spots, and several hundred foot drop offs. Had Mr. Cheney applied the brakes at all, he would have lost control of the vehicle, and we very easily could have rolled. The list goes on and on... We could have easily hit the semi next to us, or been hit by one of the hundreds of others on the road that day. We could have hit the guardrail and bounced off, rolling across the median into oncoming traffic. The tire could have continued into oncoming traffic at 70 MPH, smashing into a car coming in the opposite direction at the same speed, causing a major pile up. As it was, we all walked away without so much as a scratch.
Sadly, it is often only in times like this, when God reveals to us how frail we truly are, that we stop to consider the great mercy and love of our Savior. How is it, that we can live most of our lives so caught up in the affairs of this world, that we fail to take the time to contemplate the lovingkindness of our Lord? We are so quick to praise him for his protection in instances of great peril, but we forget that it is only by his mercy that each of us draws our next breath. I am convicted - I realize more than ever before how ungrateful I truly am. Forgive me, Lord, and may I never again forget you in the easy times, but draw always closer to your side.
Mike Cheney and his family (his wife, daughter, and son) picked up Brian Howell and myself from Denver International Airport to take us up to Crooked Creek Ranch. After a short break for lunch, we headed up I-70 toward the camp. We were enjoying our conversation - so much so in fact that we missed the exit for US 40 and didn't realize it until almost 5 miles later.
We drove another couple of miles before finding an exit, turned around, and headed back east towards Denver. I-70 at this particular point is a two lane highway, with a paved shoulder on the right, and a wide grass median separating the eastbound and westbound traffic. We traveling in the left lane, and a large 18 wheel trailer was passing us on the right.
What happened next occurred so quickly that it is hard to remember the exact sequence of events. We felt the car lurch, the front right of the van slammed downward, and we heard the screeching sound of metal grating on concrete. Immediately someone exclaimed that we must have had a blowout. As Mr. Cheney slowly guided us over toward the shoulder, his wife exclaimed that the tire was actually passing us on our left. My immediate thought was that the tire must have separated from the rim, but as I looked over I was shocked to see the tire, rim and all, rolling down the highway. It rolled into the median, hit a bump, and bounded onto the other side of the road into oncoming traffic. We all started fervently praying that it wouldn't hit another car, and as if on cue, the tire turned, rolled back down into the median, and came to a stop around 1/4 mile from where we had finally come to rest in the van.
The van is the little speck in the distance on the left side of the road.
What had happened was this... Two of the lug nuts on the tire, either from being overtightened or from some other cause, had been cracked for some time (the face of them had actually rusted), placing extra strain on the remaining three lug nuts which sheered completely off.
Notice the rust on the two lug nuts.
The running board was torn almost completely off.
I won't go into detail about the rest of the afternoon, but suffice it to say that we had the van towed to a shop in Georgetown, and were picked up by a shuttle service which took us to a hotel for the night, and then drove us to the camp the following morning.
At the shop in Georgetown.
The point that I want to make however is this - but for the grace of God all six of us should be dead right now. Had we not missed our exit, we would have been on Berthound Pass at the time - a narrow road with lots of switchbacks, no guardrails in many spots, and several hundred foot drop offs. Had Mr. Cheney applied the brakes at all, he would have lost control of the vehicle, and we very easily could have rolled. The list goes on and on... We could have easily hit the semi next to us, or been hit by one of the hundreds of others on the road that day. We could have hit the guardrail and bounced off, rolling across the median into oncoming traffic. The tire could have continued into oncoming traffic at 70 MPH, smashing into a car coming in the opposite direction at the same speed, causing a major pile up. As it was, we all walked away without so much as a scratch.
Sadly, it is often only in times like this, when God reveals to us how frail we truly are, that we stop to consider the great mercy and love of our Savior. How is it, that we can live most of our lives so caught up in the affairs of this world, that we fail to take the time to contemplate the lovingkindness of our Lord? We are so quick to praise him for his protection in instances of great peril, but we forget that it is only by his mercy that each of us draws our next breath. I am convicted - I realize more than ever before how ungrateful I truly am. Forgive me, Lord, and may I never again forget you in the easy times, but draw always closer to your side.
posted by Nate at 3:56 PM
4 Comments:
A post, how wonderful! I was biginning to believe tht you didn't walk away from the accident. Like everyone else did.
I praise God that everyone is safe and well. To God be the glory.
Keep up the posting!
Hey Thanks for the new post :)
God is so good to us, isn't He?
Glad you're still with us, Nathan. Thanks for sharing the testimony of God's protection.
CS
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