Carrie Underwood's 2005 hit song seemed to be the only appropriate title for this blog post. You can judge for yourself...
In the early eighties, I purchased a 1967 Chevelle from my cousin, Edwin Earls. It had been sitting for a few years but it didn't take me long to get it "road ready." The engine was a 400 Chevy small block with a Rochester Quadrajet carburetor and a three-speed automatic transmission. I replaced the original coil springs, front and back, with heavy ones which "raised" the car. This was the "muscle car" style and I still prefer it. Somehow it just looks "tougher" compared to those wimpy lowered trucks and cars.
One afternoon, as I was driving out of West Plains on Highway 160 East, a little foreign car had the audacity to try to pass me. Right at Howell Avenue, when you start down the hill to the straight stretch out of town, he pulled out to go around me. Now... with a car that would run like a scalded dog and my natural male ego, this wasn't about to happen!
I let him get even with me and then I "put the pedal to the metal"! In approximately 2.4 seconds, he was nothing but a speck in my rear view mirror! I cruised past the KWPM radio station and by the time I topped "Radio City Hill" I was doing well over 100 MPH...
It will take about one hundred words to write and about forty seconds for you to read what happened next.
But in real time it took about three seconds...
When I topped out on Radio City Hill and could see the other smaller hill about 800 feet away, a car was pulling out of the crossroad between the two hills INTO MY LANE!! I immediately slammed down on the brake and locked the wheels... I didn't even slow down. I just started skidding at 100 MPH! When I saw that I wasn't going to stop, I let off of the brake, stomped on the gas and swung into the left lane to pass. Somehow, I passed the car and was back in my lane before I hit the top of the smaller hill!
I slowed down to a reasonable speed and continued on to the Homeplace. When I pulled into our driveway, I was shaking so badly I had to sit for a few minutes before I could pull up the lane to the house. While I sat there, I solemnly promised the Lord that that would never happen again. And by His grace, I have kept that promise... and kept my speeds below 100 MPH!!
I am a firm believer in God's mercy and I know his angels were looking out for a seriously stupid teenage boy. The "what if's" were all too clear.
If there is any truth to Carrie Underwood's song, I certainly experienced it that day when for all intents and purposes, "Jesus Took The Wheel"!!
If you want to get a feel for how much time I had to pass, ride along with me HERE
I was 17 years old driving my first car, a 1955 chevy. It was the Summer between graduating high school and starting business college in September. I loved nature and was out exploring out West of Poplar Bluff. I had to be work at a certain time that afteroon and when I came out onto Highway 60 West of Poplar Bluff I wasn't very familiar with the area and didn't know how far out of Poplar Bluff I was. I was driving extremely fast watching for billboards or signs that would give me an idea how far to Poplar Bluff. I happened to look back to the highway in time to see a dump truck barely moving ahead of me. It evidently had just pulled onto the highway. All I had time to do was swerve to the left lane. Unfortunately there was a car coming and I barely had time to swerve back into the right lane to avoid a head-on collision. I realized if I hadn't looked when I did I would have slammed into the back of the dump truck and had the car in the left lane been just a little closer I would have hit him head-on. I probably would have died either way. It really shook me up, but it wasn't until years later when I got saved that I remembered back to that day and realized it was the mercy and grace of God that kept me from going out of this life lost. Praise the Lord for His marvelous grace!! Wayne
ReplyDeleteSounds like it was a close shave Brother Wayne! Thank God for his mercy!
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