The whole idea behind coming back to the mainland in May or June is so that we can enjoy the warm weather and summer months here and miss out on the hot months on island. The plan is to go back before it gets cold here, thereby living in a perpetual summer that does not include snow or bitter winds or biting cold. So far, our timing has been perfect. Granted, it has been a little chilly (for us!) a couple of mornings and we’ve had to sleep using a blanket (gasp!), but overall life and temps are good.
We left Virginia on Wednesday. It was hard to leave the Rosebrook Inn. Mike and Cory treated us so cordially and made us feel so at home. But, new horizons beckoned and we spent Wednesday twisting and turning up and down steep grades as we crossed West Virginia’s Appalachian Mountains. Gorgeous. We took a little side trip to Seneca Cavern and enjoyed the tour underground. Slow and steady we ended up in Ohio at Karl’s Aunt Gwen and Uncle Ted’s house for a nice afternoon of picking cherries (yum!!), a nice dinner and a quiet night (except for a bass-drum-throated bullfrog that sang to us!). Our timing was a bit off for that visit because Gwen and her daughter Roxy are on a vacation of their own in California so we missed seeing them. Even so, we love to be with Ted, and his French toast on Saturday morning was really yummy.
On Saturday morning we left Ohio with Kansas City – our daughter Hillary’s home – as our goal. We weren’t really hurrying, Hillary and the grandgirls had a swim meet all day in Topeka and we hoped to arrive around eight in the evening, which is when they were planning to be back. Once again, perfection in timing – everything working like clockwork. So, off we went. It was a nice day. We were impressed by the contrasts we’ve already seen on our trip. We’d traded steep grades and lush, tree filled hills for the flat farmland of Ohio and Missouri. In the late afternoon, we needed to stop for gas. We were still perfectly on time and I’d been texting with Hillary about which of us would reach her house first. We pulled off the highway into a small service station and looked for the diesel pump. It was on the side of the building, easily accessible for Karl driving our big truck and trailer, except that there was a pick-up truck parked in front of the pump with no one around. Now, we aren’t really in a hurry, but waiting behind a vehicle that isn’t getting gas and whose driver is no where to be seen caused a hint of frustration, so after a minute I got out of the truck to go inside to inquire…about that time a gentleman came out and waved, hopped into his truck with a soda in his hand and moved out of the way. We’d ‘wasted’ maybe two minutes. Shake it off. Get gas. Get back on the road. No harm, no foul.
Back on the highway, we’d just begun to settle in. Traffic was pretty light, people were minding their manners, the sun was shining. Karl and I were playing a verbal game to pass the miles, when all of a sudden traffic ahead came to a quick halt. Two lanes instantly filled with stopped vehicles. We sat there for several minutes without a clue what was going on, then slowly traffic began moving, one car at a time edged over to the right side of the highway. We realized that we had been only about ten or twelve cars behind an accident. The police were not yet on scene. As we passed, we could see a car upside down in the left lane behind a semi-truck – its trailer on its side and cargo strewn over the highway, the tractor in the median all banged up. A gentleman was lying on the side of the road alongside the former contents of his car (with people near him helping), a woman was standing there, looking shaken and dazed. By the semi, two men in t-shirts just stood there as we crept passed. People were helping those in need and we felt confident that our stopping would not be helpful, so we both began praying and moved along.
The scene was upsetting, a reminder of how easy and quickly life can change. Our car was quiet for several miles as we prayed for the victims and their helpers and supporters. Then, Karl broke the silence with one sentence. “If that guy hadn’t been blocking the fuel pump, we could have been mixed up in that wreck.” The thought lingered with us in conversation and thought for a long time. The seconds we ‘wasted’ by waiting for that gentleman to buy a soda may easily have put us ahead just far enough that what ever happened to cause that accident would have happened so as to involve us. Karl calls situations like this ‘little miracles’ and we had to wonder if that thirsty man was an angel. I pray that God is glorified in the lives of the victims of that accident and that there will be quick healing and peace for them. I also pray in thanks and that God is glorified for the perfect timing we experienced for ourselves on Saturday.
3 Responses to Timing is Everything