In winter, there is a “magic line” on Highway I-90 in Washington state where the rain stops and the snow begins. Many accidents happen when drivers meet this sudden change in the weather. To make it even worse, the “magic line” is preceded by a long blind curve. I’m a firefighter, part of a first-response medical team. I know that stretch of highway all too well.
This was a typical call. On a cold November morning, a vehicle had spun out and rolled over at that spot. Fortunately, the driver was only moderately hurt. We got him out of the car, strapped him to a back-board, and loaded him into the medical vehicle. I was the crew chief and it was my job to ensure the safety of the whole scene.
Cars were still coming fast around the blind curve, unaware of the accident scene and the treacherous conditions. I began walking toward the curve, facing traffic, placing flares in the middle of the road to warn drivers of what was ahead. My partner Glen, working in the medical vehicle, kept watch on me out the back window.
As I placed the last flare I saw a car, coming too fast around the curve, lose control and go into a spin. He was headed right for me.
Suddenly, I was no longer standing in the middle of the road, but fifty feet away on the shoulder. I don’t know how I got there. It happened in an instant. The car hurtled right through the spot where I’dbeen standing, then swerved down the road, sideswiped our medicalvehicle, careened off another car, and slid into a ditch.
The car was wrecked, but the driver was okay. My crew emerged
from the medical vehicle with only minor bumps and scratches.
My partner, Glen, rushed over to me, grabbed my shoulders and
yelled into my face, “Are you okay?!”
He had watched the whole scene. One moment I’d been in the path
of death, and the next moment I was gone. He was sure I’d been killed.
I couldn’t explain it either. We walked together to that spot in the
road.
We saw my footprints and the tire marks where the car should have
hit me, and my footprints fifty feet away on the shoulder.
There were no footprints in between.
–from Brian Dotson
 |
This story is from Loved and Protected by Asha Praver.”This is a beautiful book. What I like best about it is that it instills faith in the reader — a faith born of awareness — that God is not some distant and uninvolved Being, disinterested in our petty human affairs. He hears our every though, and cares deeply for our true needs. Indeed, He loves us as His own children.”—Swami Kriyananda Get the book |
