My work required frequent travel to small rural towns. Often I would cover hundreds of miles in a day.
On one occasion, I had been driving all day in my old minivan along winding two-lane roads through southern Missouri. I passed into northern Arkansas in the early evening and was looking forward to arriving at the motel in Jonesboro to rest before my appointment in town the next morning. It was dark, about 9 o’clock in the evening, and a steady rain was falling as I drove southbound along Highway 63. Having come out of the Ozark Mountains, the road was now straight and flat.
I was aware of the large, 18-wheel tractor-trailer rig following close behind me but gave it little attention. It won’t be long before I arrive at my destination in Jonesboro, I thought.
As I was approaching a small bridge, I noticed the headlights of a vehicle coming from the south crossing into my lane. Was I doing something wrong? I briefly wondered. No, I was in the right lane. The vehicle approaching me now seemed to be headed straight for me! We were both traveling about fifty miles per hour. Pulling onto the shoulder of the road was impossible, as I was too close to the bridge where the shoulder ended. I wondered, If I increase my speed, could I make it to the other side of the bridge and pull over in time to avoid a head-on collision? No! The vehicle was approaching too fast. It seemed we were destined to meet on the bridge head-on! I was convinced that I was going to be seriously injured or lose my life in the next moment. I moved as far to the right as I could without striking the bridge rail. I now had time only for a two-word prayer: “Oh, Lord!” I shouted.
Everything happened in a flash. The next thing I knew, I had passed the on-coming vehicle and immediately heard the sound of a loud crash right behind me. As soon as I cleared the bridge, I pulled over onto the shoulder of the road.
I sat briefly, stunned at what had just happened. But a tremendous sense of relief came over me as I realized I had, somehow, squeezed through an extremely narrow opening.
A man ran up to my window and asked if I was okay. “Yes,” I answered and got out of my van. It was then that I realized what that loud crash was that I had heard behind me. The on-coming vehicle, a red pickup truck, had crashed head-on into the tractor-trailer rig that had been following me. I had squeezed through, but the big rig was too wide to do the same. The driver of the red pickup was dead.
Both trucks were totaled. My van had only a broken mirror and a long horizontal scratch on the driver-side window. That is as close to a high-speed, head-on collision as I ever want to be! I will never forget the words of the driver of the tractor-trailer rig when interviewed by the highway patrol officer: “I don’t know how that van made it through!” he declared. I know how I made it through, because “the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them” (Psalm 34:77The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. (Psalm 34:7)).
There were two radically different outcomes in the accident — one person dead and one unscathed. Your eternal soul has one of two outcomes as well, heaven with Christ Jesus where all who put their trust in Him will “meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:1717Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:17)), or an eternal separation from all “grace and truth” (John 1:1717For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. (John 1:17)). Which will it be for you?