By The Grace of God

At 3:00 a.m. this morning, I woke up. Not by accident, mind you, as a general rule I have no problem sleeping. However, this Friday, my wonderful little brother Alex was bound for West Point (for a month of military leadership training) and I had volunteered to drive him to the airport to catch his 6 a.m. flight.

By the time I pulled into my parents' driveway at 4:01 a.m., I was ready to go. Alex was standing there with his ruck sacks (is that what they're called?), and Erika was there as well. She wanted to hang with the older sibs, and I was definitely looking forward to her company on the drive back from the airport. If I had been all alone, I was afraid I would have been rather weepy. (I always get a little bit emotional saying good bye at airports.)

But, on the way to the airport, I had a change of itinerary. It wasn't planned. And I would do anything to erase it from my Friday.

I was driving in the left lane, there were two cars ahead of me and a semis on my right. I was going about 70 mph. Suddenly, the two cars in front of me switched to the right lane, and there, ahead of me by about 100 yards, was the reason they had switched lanes.

Two cars were pulled to the left side of the road, but the second car hadn't pulled all the way off the road. His bumper stuck about 2 feet into my lane. There were semis and cars to my right. I couldn't get over, and I was afraid I would hit the car if I stayed in the left lane.

Slamming on my brakes, I turned into the median, hoping to avoid the vehicles parked there on the left side of the road. Unbeknownst to me, there were a group of about 7 teenage guys standing on the left side of their parked cars. As I swerved into the median, I saw them, right before I hit.

The boy I hit is probably about 18, and 135 pounds. His head bashed into my windshield, and he flipped from the top of my car, down my hood, and in front of my car.

I cannot, with words, express the terror that comes from hitting another human being. All I remember is screaming, crying, burning rubber, grass tearing, and the dull thud his body made against my car. I thought I had run over him, and all I could think was, "Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, help."

Before my car had fully stopped, I had flung open my door, and ran to the guy. He was already sitting up, looking dazed.

911, a police car, an ambulance, and fire truck later, it was determined that he had suffered no more than a scrape on his arm. My car has over $3,400 worth of damages. It is by the grace of God that he survived and I am incredibly, inexplicably grateful and awestruck.

Pray that there won't be any lasting consequences to this guy's health as a result of being hit. Pray that the insurance would be resolved. The two cars didn't have any car trouble or other explicable reason for being parked where they were. By the time the sheriff showed up, they had moved their cars and it was their word, against mine. I don't currently know how the damages will be payed for, but I do know that I am extremely grateful that the boy isn't hurt.

God is incredibly gracious.