Understanding the 40 Parables of Jesus Christ: Learn from the greatest teacher Jesus Christ. The gospel taught in stories.

God's Perfect Timing:
Avoiding a Fatal Car Accident

God works in mysterious and often barely noticeable ways, ranging from timing to divine appointments to tiny miracles (that are hardly impressive by many standards) yet still imply God's touch.

Sometimes the timing of events are so perfect that a difference in mere seconds could have changed the entire outcome.

A Near Miss - Avoiding Death

When I was a teenager, my brother and I barely avoided a fatal car accident were only a second or two difference would have resulted in our death.

I was driving, while my slightly younger brother was with me in the passenger seat. It had just become dark outside, and we were preparing to merge on the interstate. As I sped up in order to merge at the higher speed of the interstate, I noticed that a large semi-truck was traveling at the same speed, leading to a potential collision if I didn't speed up or slow down.

Speeding up was the more likely option that I would normally choose, because I would end up needing to pass the semi-truck anyway since they often drive slower, and it is probably what I would have done if we had been merging only a second sooner.

Instead, I decided to slow down.

I did, and merged just behind the semi-truck. I then looked back briefly to merge over one more lane, when my brother exclaimed, "Did you see that?!"

I jerked my head around to see the air filled with white fluff, with the semi-truck swerving within it's lane trying to steady itself. The semi-truck had just had a head-on collision with an adult deer, which had been flung to the side of the road after hitting the semi-truck.

Immediately the implications of the other choice, that I could have made, settled in. Just like I had merged just behind the semi-truck, I could have just as easily merged just before the semi-truck. Doing so would have resulted in our car hitting the adult deer in the middle of the road, which would have led to the semi-truck hitting our car from behind.

Such a collision would be highly fatal, being hit from two sides, as well as the fact that semi-trucks hitting cars from behind at high speeds tend to crush the car completely.

If my brother and I had entered the interstate just a few seconds sooner, the outcome of this event would have been more than just a sobering memory. Instead, it is a reminder that God influences us in sometimes barely noticeable, yet pivotal and life-changing ways.