The Almost Big Event

Today has been a day. The week has been long and hard, and it's only Tuesday. There are some weeks, days, moments, minutes, better than others. Some days, I live in hope, see the blessings, and let the little things bring me joy. Other days, I carry the weight on my shoulders, lose sight that things will ever change, and have to force a smile on my face.

Yesterday was a tough day, followed by a night of basketball. My friend came to the scorers' table between games and asked, "Do you think we should just leave with the boys straight from school tomorrow?"

"Wait, what?", was my reply as I was adding stats and setting up the book for the next game. "We have to take them somewhere?"

"The game is in Aiken tomorrow," she reminded me. 

I guess I knew that, but had somehow pushed it out of my mind in my one day at a time survival mode. Of course, I would have to be there to keep the book, so of course it was natural to expect I would take some of the team with me. "Sure, I'll be ready right after school."

By the end of school today, I was getting geared up to drive a car full of middle school boys to a game 35 minutes away, right after spending hours in a classroom of very loud lively students. I was wishing I loved coffee so the caffeine could maybe give me the boost I needed. I knew what I really needed was some time in prayer, but goodness knows that was NOT going to happen on that car ride.

The guys were dressed and waiting for me at the car when I came out. My friend and I split them up, counted heads, and off we went. Ordinarily, traffic only goes out of our parking lot one way - to the right. That's the way home, the direction of the traffic, and allows the carline to move quickly. However, to get where we were going, we had to turn left. 

Our school is on the corner of two busy roads that produce a lot of traffic. My friend made a quick left turn into the turn lane and I knew that if I wanted to keep up with her (as well as not hold everyone else up), I needed to do the same. I looked both ways and was thankful for a quick opportunity to join her. 

I'm not sure where the other car came from, (my friend later told me it was going so fast I probably didn't have time to see it) but as I pulled across the first lane and was heading to the second lane, I (thanks be to God) saw the flash and slowed just enough to miss it. It was like a scene from the Matrix. I watched as my front bumper missed the other car by inches, and then had the wherewithal to continue with some speed to make the whole turn into the turn lane so as not to get smashed by anyone else. 

Max, who had shotgun, said, "Mama, we almost got in an accident. What were you looking at?"

"I was looking bud, but that car was nowhere in sight when I made the turn."

"Wow," was his relieved response.

"Wow is right. What you just witnessed was a miracle. It's truly miraculous that we that not only did we not hit that speedster, but also that we did not get hit by anyone else."

And that was the end of that. I thanked the Lord profusely since I was not only concerned for Max and myself, I was so grateful not to have to call all of the moms of the boys I had in the car. If you're one of those moms, thank your son's guardian angel tonight because there was definitely more than one of them working overtime.

Ordinarily, my heart would have raced for the entire 35 minute drive. My hands would have been shaking, and I would have needed the boys to be silent. But for some reason, I felt very aware of the miracle I just witnessed and very grateful for the almost huge event that was really a nonevent. 

My poor friend, on the other hand, saw the whole event in her mirror. I was secretly hoping nobody had witnessed it. The boys in my car seemed to be totally unfazed. All of the things I should have been feeling, she felt for me. She was the one who let me know how fast that car was coming and brought up the fact that my guardian angel was definitely working for me. I agreed with her and we walked into the gym and back to life. 

The trip home was completely uneventful. 

The longer I think about it, the more grateful I am for the Lord's protection. Honestly, I don't know what the bigger miracle was - the fact we came out unscathed, the fact that I didn't lose my cool and cause another accident avoiding the one in front of me, or the fact that I was able to calmly drive the team to the game right afterwards. 

I guess it doesn't really matter. What does matter is that God made it very clear to me tonight that He loves me and is watching out for me, and I'm very, VERY grateful for that!