Wednesday

4 Accidents and a ......... (pt3) - A Dose of Encouragement


Who would believe that you could slip on a powder?

That's exactly what happened to my husband one night on the road between Londonderry and Strabane in Northern Ireland.







   The third accident!


Fred decided to go to a prayer meeting in Strabane while I stayed at home with the kids.  Not a very unusual thing for him to do but the phone call I got about 30 mins after he left home was very unusual.


Fred was on the phone from someone's house (we didn't have mobile phones in our family all those years ago) to tell me that he had had an accident in the car and that he was fine but he would not be able to drive the car home so I would need to come and pick him up in my car.


Then a man took the phone from Fred to reassure me that Fred was okay and in his home and he could stay with them until I got there.  I got directions and then arranged for the grown-up daughter of our next door neighbours to stay with my kids while I went for Fred and her mother seeing I was rather shocked about it all decided that she would come with me.


We had no trouble knowing when we had arrived at the right place because we could see the car lying on its side in the field beside the road.  








Around the field was a wire fence with cement posts.

All we could say was


How did the car get past the posts without Fred being injured?


Fred doesn't know the answer to that one either.  


As he was driving along suddenly the car seemed to slide and it spun out of control off the road turning over a couple of times and landed in the field on its side with Fred hanging there held up by the safety belt. 







The police arrived and told him that a tanker carrying powdered milk had spilt most of its load along the road a few hours earlier but it had been washed up and they didn't think that could really be the cause of his accident.







However the next day Fred went back to the home of the man who had taken him in that night to thank him again and to take some pictures of the car before it was towed away.  



When he got there another vehicle had had the same problem and had gone off the road through the hedge at the opposite side.








 A couple of hours later another accident happened with a car going off the road at the same spot and it hit a telegraph pole.

In the end the road had to be cleaned again because it was decided that washing up the powdered milk had left a slippery skim on the surface of the road.


3 cars were written off but all three drivers were unharmed even though they would admit that they had no control of their vehicles once they hit the slippery patch.



The only person who was in control of the situation was God and we are forever thankful that he kept Fred and the other drivers safe.





There was no warning; there was nothing to visibly see as the car approached the dangerous stretch of road.


It was not Fred's fault that he had that accident.


I have often thought of how we don't have any warning when the devil is getting ready to try to harm us spiritually too.  


However God has warned us in the Bible about the nature of the devil and his intentions  towards us so that we can be prepared for the attacks to come.  

God has likened the devil to a roaring lion hoping to devour us. 
Such a strong picture.

Thankfully we have a God who is all-powerful, stronger than the enemy and when He is on our side who can stand against us.







The devil certainly could not take Fred's life that night as the car bounced off the road and into the field, those cement posts did not harm him.


 God miraculously kept Fred from all harm.



Is God in control of your life?


Have you allowed Him to be in control?      


Do you truly trust in Him?