Newsletter - September 2006

Dear Friends:

I trust you are enjoying getting back into the routines of fall. I usually find that returning to the structure of school schedules and consistent commitments seems good after the relative freedom of summertime. I hope that you do, too.

In this letter, I simply want to share with you a true story of something that happened recently to friends of mine. It is such a great illustration of God’s loving care for us that I thought it would be an encouragement to you and would bring a smile to your face as it did mine. Here it is:

Ken, a Michigan businessman, was on his way back to Spring Lake after a meeting in Grand Rapids when his cell phone rang. It was a friend from the neighborhood who had just passed a corner near the subdivision and panicked when he saw Darren’s car in the ditch. Ken’s son had apparently been broadsided by an oncoming car as he attempted to pull out into traffic just a block from home. The smashed car was helplessly lying in the ditch; the neighbor was just now on the scene and had not yet seen Darren, but he assured Ken that emergency vehicles were on their way.

Ken’s foot pushed harder on the accelerator as he headed as quickly as he could toward home. Even then, he was still 15 minutes away. He prayed that Darren was OK and that help would arrive soon. Darren, a high school senior, had already been through a lot in his young life. His parents divorced when we was only 10 and he now divided his time between his Mom’s home and the home of Ken and his wife of several years, Stacy. Enough time had passed that routine settled in and life was good. Darren was a good student, a good son, and was looking forward to his future. Ken tried not to let worry about that future overwhelm him as he sped to the site.

He drove up from the gully just north of the accident and was horrified to see Darren’s car in the ditch covered by a huge blue tarp, protectively placed so the emergency technicians could use the Jaws of Life and cutting torches to free the driver from the vehicle. His first response was total panic. Surely Darren was dead. The blue covering could mean nothing else! The blood left Ken’s face as he walked in seeming slow motion toward the disabled car.

“You can’t go any further, sir,” a police officer said. “Stand back.”

“But I’m the boy’s father,” Ken protested.

“We need room to work. We’re trying to get him out of the car.”

“Is he . . . alive?”

“Yes. We don’t know his overall condition, but he is alert. The ambulance is waiting to take him in just as soon as we can get him out.”

Ken breathed a temporary sigh of relief, then obediently stood where he was, pleading with God for his son’s life, and wishing he could be next to him to assure him that everything would be all right. They would get through this together. He absolutely hated the thought of Darren trapped by himself in that car just waiting for the rescuers to get him out. He didn’t want him to be alone. He didn’t want him to be afraid. He called to him to let him know that he was there, but there was so much noise from the working equipment, he was pretty sure that Darren could not hear him.

After what seemed like hours, the blue tarp was pulled back. Ken moved toward Darren as they began to remove him from the smashed vehicle and then, in astonishment and joy, broke out in a big grin. The first person out from under the tarp was not Darren. It was Ken’s wife, Stacy. And she was smiling, so he knew all would be well. When Darren was brought out, he was whisked away to the waiting ambulance but only after he looked Ken in the eye and said, “I knew you’d be here, Dad.”

On the way to the hospital Ken and Stacy talked.

“How did you get in there?” he asked increduously. “They wouldn’t let me near the car.”

My friend Stacy, who always seems to know just what to do in any circumstance, said, “I just told them, ‘That’s my boy in there’ and kept going. I crawled under the tarp with him before they started cutting and they just let me stay.”

It turned out that she, too, had received a call at work from a passer-by who recognized Darren’s mangled car, but since her office was closer than Ken was in his travels from Grand Rapids, she was able to arrive at the accident scene within a few minutes of the call. So from the first blast of the cutting torches and the working of the Jaws of Life, she was there, huddled under the tarp with Darren, looking him in the eye and saying,

“Don’t worry, Honey, you’re going to be OK. Here – take hold of my hands. I’m staying with you until they get us out. Keep looking in my eyes. We’re in this together!”

Darren was, indeed, all right. He was treated and released with some minor injuries all of which he has since fully recovered from. Ken smiles when he tells the story now, still amazed that the first person to emerge from the wrecked vehicle was Stacy, a woman who always seems to be in the right place at the right time!

As I thought about this happy-ending story, I thought about something else. There are so many people outside of us who are friends, family, and people who care a great deal about the struggles we face. They would gladly walk through the difficult situations with us if we would let them get close, but often we or circumstances or other people in our lives keep them at a distance just as Ken was kept back from his son when he wanted so desperately to be there beside him.

On the other hand, I know that I have a Friend right with me under the tarp. The Holy Spirit is inside me, never leaves me, and is always directing me to look Him in the eye and have confidence or patience or joy – whatever my need may be at the moment. He is not held back by any outside forces. He is always in the right place at the right time. All I have to do is reach out my hands and submit to His command to trust Him and to know that He and I are in this together!

I hope that you know the same Friend and that you enjoy His presence today and every day!

Bev

< Back To Newsletter Home