Let me tell you a story that's scary and sad, but also a testimony of God's grace and protection. It's been a crazy few days the last few days. Thursday morning I was on my way to work. I had just turned off the Pioneer Lodge road and was going North into Sundre, when i saw coming up really fast in my rearview mirror, a marroon Rav 4 being passed very quickly by a light blue truck. Just after the truck passed the Rav, the Rav went to pass the truck, but I was just ahead, so the truck went to pass me at the same time. I immediately pulled as far as I could to the right and hit my brakes. I immediatly knew this could be really really bad. It's not a wide road, and these guys were flying, and we were 3 wide on the road. The truck made it past me and kept going (can you believe he didn't stop?!?! Seriously, the stupidity!!!!!!!!) as I heard squealing tires in my blind spot and then saw the Rav beside me spinning on the road and then hitting the ditch and flipping. I think it flipped twice before landing on its roof facing south. I pulled into a driveway just ahead, and sprinted back to the Rav, completely expecting to see someone dead or completely mangled. There was carnage from his car everywhere, and all the windows were smashed. As I got to the car, I saw a young guy laying on the roof dialing on his cell phone. He's alive! I could see blood on his hand, but no where else. I asked him if he was ok. He said, yeah, "I think so, but i just got run off the road." I said "yeah, I saw!" And then he was talking on the phone (in Dutch, I believe) leaving a message for his parents. I opened the passenger side back door and he climbed out. Another guy stopped to help just after that. And the guy in the rav called 911. He was starting to shake pretty bad but he didnt' seem hurt anywhere but his hand. He was in shock, but totally coherant. I told him to sit down and I put a jacket that had flown out of the vehicle around his shoulders. I asked his name and if he knew the other guy. He said yeah. After 10-15 minutes, with many people stopping to ask if we were ok, the police, fire and ambulance came, and did an assesment, and took him into the ambulance. I told the police what I'd seen, and they said they'd get my official statement later that day (kinda funny, cause the police officer was like "I've got to go into Wild's (Home Hardware) later to pick up a window I ordered, so I'll talk to you then" Oh, small town!!) So I went to work, shook up, really cold, but ok. So in the afternoon, the police officer came and I gave my statement, and after, he said, "so the guy in the truck was a guy named Scott Erickson" My heart sank. I felt so sick. NOT SCOTT!!!!! No, he's a good kid. He's not supposed to do such stupid stuff! Scott's a grade 12 kid from my church, who I know fairly well. His family is pretty big in my church. Oh man I was mad and sad. What a stupid thing to do, racing like that in the first place with your buddy (but those guys just DO that kind of stuff grrr) but that he didn't stop... That's what makes me even more sad. So irresponsible and ... sad. He's going to be getting a MAJOR fine . . . or 2 or 3. And his parents. They've got to be SO dissapointed in him. I almost wish though, in some ways, that there was more injury involved. At that age, hick boys from Sundre are likely to be like "whoa, close call, glad I'm ok" and move on, doing it again. You know what I mean? If someone was really hurt, they'd learn better. I'm definately going to talk to Scott. I'm going to be SO SCARED talking to him. I want to do it right, not angry, but getting my point across, you know. He really needs to know how it's shook me up. And that he really could have killed all 3 of us. This is serious stuff and he needs to learn from it!!!
So I was really shook up, and still am feeling it. I am SO SO SO thankful I'm ok. I'm sure the truck was inches from me as it passed me, and the Rav was millimetres away as it spun around on the road beside me. Thank you Lord!!! And thinking about it, how do you know in that situation if you should slow down or speed up when it's all happening so fast beside and behind you. The thought was in my mind, "should I pull into the ditch?" But that could have meant I wuld have rolled too. I was going about 95 km/h. Yikes, the possibilities. But I'm OK!!! And Ollie's even ok! (Ollie's my Jeep)
So there's my nutso story. To add to the stress, work was really nuts thursday and friday too. Essp friday. We got a new phone system with voice mail and stuff. And I was elected to be the one to be the expert, so I was being trained on it yesterday, and there was truck after truck to recieve, and there were issues with our main electrical breaker, it flipped 3 times in 2 days, shutting down the whole computer system and lights for a few minutes, that's a little nuts when everything we do is computer. Tills, recieving, EVERYTHING!! And I was supposed to be off at noon yesterday. And I had an appointment for Ollie in olds at 2. I worked like CRAZY till 1:15. And then spent $200 on a downspout oxegen censer, whatever that is, on my jeep. My check engine light had come on a while back and thats what they told me it needed. I'm at their mercy...
And more than that, I'm at God's mercy. He did not have to keep me alive and fine this week. I dont' deserve his grace. But it's there. He's there. Wow, what a good God I have!