car crash

No one will know my emotional state at the time.  No one will know the thoughts that raced through my head during these moments in time.  No one will know my interactions with the various people who gracefully stopped by to help.  I will always remember some of the comments made by police, emds, and firemen as they were in awe of my safety.  Evidently these men had witnessed many cases in which accidents similar to mine resulted in horrible gruesome deaths.  Even after busted windows, knocked off tires, misplaced bumpers, and a ruined front end, I walked away painless and scratch free.  I can so easily put myself back into that afternoon driving 70 mph west on I26. I’ve driven this path at least one hundred times before.   This day the conditions were not the best.  I was headed towards a rain storm about 1:30 p.m.  I had been driving through a light drizzle for about ten minutes.  The rain was so light my wipers were not on.  I was in the passing lane driving just fine listening to the light and soothing “Harvest Moon” by Neil Young.  A hunter green jeep wrangler slowly approached me in the right hand lane and as it slowly passed by I watched light water flying from its back wheels.  As soon as it passed, I felt as if my car was not gripping the road well so I let off the gas.  About 3 seconds later I found my jeep slowly angling itself to the right yet still staying in the passing lane.  It proceeded off the road and into the median (about 20 yards wide).  I remember seeing cars approaching me in the East bound lanes and I knew I was going to head on collide with one or more of these cars so I hunched down at the steering wheel in preparation for the 140 mph collision.  The thoughts I remember running through my head during these split seconds were racing thoughts of my mother grieving my death.  I also thought about my father, Sara, and Jocelyn.  I knew how devastating this was going to be for my family.  In the median, my jeep was sliding yet for some unexpected reason not flipping.  I felt a lot of bumping and heard the pounding of unknown objects beating the jeep at all sides.  I heard the front window smash in.  Out of no where the jeep stopped. I was safe.  I slowly lifted my head up as to glance out of the windows to see where this wreck had left me and if it was over.  I was sure, even after my car stopped, that a driver in the east bound lane would lose control of their vehicle out of panic when seeing me jeep flying out of control towards theirs and come crashing into mine. By the grace of God this did not happen.  After I was calm enough to pick up my phone, I dialed my father first.  I made sure he knew I was ok.  I phoned 911 as soon as I hung up with him and said “I have just been in a wreck.”  Without another word from me, the operator told me the type of vehicle I was driving, my mile marker location on I26, and that help was on the way. This was literally 2 minutes after the wreck.  During the next moments many people pulled over to help and question my safety. The first was a young country tow truck driver on his was to tow another car that had also been wrecked.  After telling him I was fine, I asked him if the jeep was totaled and he informed me it indeed was.  He was the friendliest guy and I was telling him how I knew I was going to collide with opposing traffic in the east bound lane.  Without knowing I was a Christian he said, “I don’t know if you are a religious man, but God’s hand just stopped you from a terribly fatal accident.”  As was surveyed the remnants of my totaled jeep, I just wondered pondered the whole situation.  Why was I allowed to live after such an awful accident?  What was God’s reasoning for the accident in the first place, and why did he insist that I remain on this planet longer?       The jeep full of high dollar clothes, books, cds, a laptop, and many valuable things were nearly made “waste” to never be seen or used again. The only thing surviving… my soul. 
I washed and vacuumed out the jeep before I left.  It was looking great, but now it’s a pile of useless metal and parts covered in mud and grass. Ummm lol
I imagine it has to be hell on earth for someone like Donald Trump to lie on his death bed knowing all of his life’s worth and accumulations will be removed from his possession.  It’s definitely easier for a poor person to deal with a life/death situation that a rich man. The poor man has nothing to lose.  Situations like this put things into perspective.  Perhaps this same idea was one of the best things that I walked away with from Kenya.  Nothing but your soul is eternal, and how you mold and build it on earth determines its eternity.
I definitely understand that it is our darkest days that we experience our most profound and intimate experiences on earth- when our heart is broken, when we feel abandoned, when we’re out of options, when the pain is great- and we turn to God alone. 
The special forces such as the police, emds, and firemen were great to me.  The police didn’t even charge me with anything, and usually in a wreck like mine the driver is always charged with “driving too fast for conditions.”  I will write this officer a thank you note.  My opinion of policemen has changed.  I always have associated policemen with negative connotations, but I was comforted by the on duty policeman and those off duty and retired who stopped to check on my safety and make sure I was getting proper help.
Mom picked me up from Kibler’s Towing in Newberry and actually that night was my first night alone working at Moe Joe’s so mom hung out with me there and spent the night at my apartment.  She’s gone now and now it’s me and my bike until I get a new mode of transportation. Ha.  We dropped my bike that I bought in Clemson as a freshman off at Sunshine Bicycle Company to get fine tuned. 
Blessed I am.