Yesterday, we went to a teaching by Bill Cloud in Waco with the kids and another couple from down the street. The speaker was long but good. One thing he talked about was the protection that YHWH gives to his people. He gave a personal example of how last April when many tornadoes hit near his home town--7 in one day in his county alone--that one tornado in particular skipped over their neighborhood. The tornado had originated in another state, was half a mile wide, and had traveled for thirty miles prior to getting to about 400 yards from his house. It lifted up, went over a large section of his neighborhood to about 400 yards beyond his home where it again touched back down. The tornado then continued for another twelve miles. He made it very clear that he doesn't consider himself special or that he was saved for something special that he did but to make the point that He does provide protection for those following His path. (Yes, I know that bad things DO happen to good people but bear with me.)
On the way home from Waco, we came upon an accident. We were on Highway 84 a few miles past the split with Highway 31. It appeared that a truck had hit a VERY large cow that was now lying in the middle of the road. There were only a few cars stopped at that point and no emergency responders yet. Dimples pulled over behind a black truck, got out and crossed over to the other side to check on the people that had hit the cow. He came back very quickly and told us that the people didn't speak English. I decided to get out and so did my friend. (She has an extensive background in natural medicine.) Fearless Leader also got out then so did Peace Keeper. I told them to get back in the car, Peace Keeper did, but Fearless Leader argued with me. I had to be very firm with him and wasn't sure if he really had gotten back in. A white truck pulled in and parked behind our van.
We crossed the road and had just gotten to the group from the truck when we all realized that a vehicle was coming--VERY FAST! We started waving frantically, and there was someone up the road just a bit waving a flashlight as well, but the truck didn't slow at all. As it got nearer to us, it pulled to the middle of the road and hit the cow causing the vehicle, a blue truck, to jump a little and head straight toward the parked cars on the opposite side of the road--my van now between two trucks, and my husband standing just behind our van.
I screamed and my friend was screaming, "NO! NO!" as we watched in slow motion.
The blue truck fish tailed a bit, over-corrected and was heading straight toward the black truck. We could tell they would meet head on at about the drivers' side headlights. We both knew that the blue truck would smash the black truck, push it back into our van, scrape down the side of both, and push our van into the white truck. I knew my husband would be between the van and white truck. That is what SHOULD have happened. But it didn't.
The blue truck did strike the black truck head on just to the middle of the drivers' side headlights. The front of the black truck turned toward the ditch as the blue truck "bounced" (for lack of a better term) out just slightly away from the rear end of the truck. We screamed as the blue truck skidded, sparking and smoking, past our van, then "bounced" back to grate down the driver's side of the white truck. The blue truck finally came to rest in the ditch about a hundred feet past the last impact.
I ran across the road to chaos. There were five people in the black truck, a man who was in the driver's seat, a lady, two teenage girls and a young girl around five. The females were screaming. My three kids and the husband of my friend were climbing out of the van, shaken but mostly calm. I couldn't find Dimples. I told the kids to get back in the car, buckle up and not move. Fearless Leader argued and argued but finally got in. My friend was assessing the girls from the black truck. I grabbed napkins and took them over and began trying to assess who was injured as well. There was screaming coming from all around us and the smell of burning rubber filled my nose and throat. To keep myself as calm as possible, I began to mentally go through first aid instructions. I glanced up to see Dimples standing in the grass near us on the phone with 911. Relief!
I got the kids out of the van and moved them further into the ditch huddling together. More people were walking around trying to help by this point. One lady was going around asking if people were hurt; I realized her nose was bleeding. She was on the phone and I was trying to ask her if she was hurt. She said that her truck was down there in the ditch. I looked where she was pointing, and it was the blue truck. I tried to walk her to the grass to sit down, but she was trying to tell someone on the phone what happened. She kept saying she was okay and finally squatted down on the side of the road. I left her with someone and went back to check on my kids and the people from the black truck.
Finally, I could hear sirens. First responders began showing up, then police and fire rescue. The highway was (finally!) blocked off and EMT began making rounds. My kids told us that something had hit the front of the van and rocked it. Upon inspection, our tire had a bubble in the side wall but no other damage.
The black truck in front of us had no front tire. It had been ripped off. The driver's door was crumpled in and the windows on that side broken out, the front windshield was cracked into tiny pieces, and the air bags had deployed. The white truck behind us was smashed all down the driver's side.
We learned that there had actually been two vehicles prior to the blue truck that had hit the cow. Her calf had also been hit sometime earlier by an eighteen wheeler an officer reported. There were five vehicles that had been totaled and had to be towed but unbelievably only minor injuries. The lady from the blue truck did go to the hospital, but the EMTs believe she only had minor injuries as well.
Over two hours later, we had given statements to an officer, and Dimples was able to change the front tire. As we hobbled home on our spare, we spoke about the miraculous occurrence. There is just no natural explanation as to how the blue truck missed our van and Dimples. After passing through Mexia, incredibly we saw TWO MORE COWS out on the highway. Dimples swung around to go back toward them, honking. The cows ran up through a gate, and he followed them, honking the whole way. I called 911 to report it. There didn't appear to be anyone at the house. We waited around for about ten minutes and finally left because a sheriff hadn't shown up. I do hope those cows stayed in the gate, and/or the sheriff located them and got them penned up. All in all, it was an adrenaline rich trip--one I hope not to repeat.
