By Ellen Andersen

I was on my way to a meeting shortly before 2:00 p.m. and was getting on the freeway at a very short on-ramp. When I merged with traffic, I heard a crunch. I’d hit someone in a smart car.  She lost control of her car and I did too.  I found myself headed backwards. I turned around and pulled off the road as fast as I could. A second later, I saw a car flip twice and land in the ditch upside down next to the freeway.  It was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen.  Strangers pulled off the road to help and people were on their cell phones calling 9-1-1.

People ran to the car in the ditch and a few came to check on me. One was a nurse named Sharon who asked if I was all right and offered to stay and help.  Another man came said, “Do you go to Fellowship Greenville?”  I nodded, wondering how he knew that. He said he’d seen the church window sticker.  He asked if I was ok and said he was praying for me.  I figured it was just a nice thing for him to say.  He told me a little later that he was a pastor at a local church and that he knew my pastor well and was good friends with another couple in our church.

photo courtesy of pixabay

The man asked if he could call anyone for me. I handed him my cell phone and asked him to call my folks to let them know what had happened. After he gave them the details, he came back to the car and prayed with and for me that God would make me calm and give me peace. He prayed for the other person in the wreck too.

A police officer came over and asked if I was ok and I told him I didn’t know what to do. He had me sit in the car and turn the air conditioner on full blast so I wouldn’t be so hot.  When I asked, he said his name was Steven.  He stayed with me and held my hand for a long time.  I really needed that.

Nothing made the nurse come back, the pastor stop and call my parents and then pray with me. The police officer didn’t have to help me back into my car on a swelteringly hot day to help me cool off and calm down. But they did.  It made a difference in an awful time.