Losing Control: A Miracle Born in Crisis

Imagine you’re driving down the interstate at night. In the distance, huge bolts of lightning spiderweb across the sky, creating a mesmerizing light show. It’s beautiful yet terrifying. The sky behind you is calm, but ahead, darkness looms, and you’re heading straight for it.

SEEING THE STORM

Storms are storms. I’ve driven through many, but last night was different. In a torrential downpour with my wife and our two cats to my in-laws’ house, I experienced a miracle.

As we watched the sky light up and the rain line grow closer, I didn’t think much of it. It’s just a storm; my car has handled them well before. I stayed calm—maybe too calm—even feeling annoyed at those slowing down and turning on their flashers.

We crossed from dry land into rain, and I could tell the storm would be rougher than I imagined. It didn’t faze me; I’ve faced storms like this more times than I can count.

I was doing good for quite a while because I was confident and I had this. No storm has taken me out in my nearly 30 years of driving, why worry now?

LOSING CONTROL

Driving the center lane, I suddenly plowed into a deep stream that had gathered in a low spot on the road. It was a LOT of water that I didn’t see because of a combination of the rain making a mess of the windshield, people having their flashers on and others having their high beams on (BTW, don’t do that!! You actually make it more dangerous for others when you do) causing serious light reflection off the watery mess on my windshield.

Fueled by overconfidence, I took the highway too fast. The moment we hit the water, we lost control—hydroplaning, spinning sideways, and flying straight toward the concrete divider.

I started to panic as my wife was gripping the seat and screaming at me to try and gain control. The car spun, back end sliding right, front end locked on a crash course with the divider—until, in a last-second miracle, the wheels caught, and we snapped back into the center lane.

Now the car was whipping back toward the center lane, and I still had no control.

I let up off the gas, allowed it to slow while trying to gain control of the slide we were having, and I was able to finally correct our trajectory, straighten out, and continue moving ALMOST like it didn’t happen. But oh boy, my heart knew it happened. It wasn’t going to let me forget that easily.

THE MIRACLE

By the grace of God, I caught control just in time to avoid crashing into the divider—at 60-plus miles an hour, it could’ve flipped us. And thank God again—no other cars were nearby. They were a ways behind us, but no one was in front or beside us. If others had been around, it wouldn’t have just been a near-miss—it could’ve been catastrophic.

My wife looked at me once we were steady and asked, “Do you want to stop?” I shook my head. I just needed to keep going—like motion could outrun the fear. But I couldn’t escape it. All night, I replayed the moment I nearly ended both our lives. I didn’t sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about how close I came to leaving our kids without parents.

But God.

Who Is Really In Control?

Seriously…the only reason we pulled out of that situation unscathed WASN’T because of my amazing driving skills but because God was in control. He alone cleared the road around us, turned the wheel before we hit the divider, and reconnected the tires to the pavement so we could make it home.

My children could very well have been without parents today…but God.

I had lost control. God never did. He was there in that moment and he (like the country song) took the wheel. Had he not today would be a very different day for everyone in our lives.

Throughout my life I have found that it is when we have lost complete control that God shows up and shows us just how much control He really is in. Especially when the chaos of our lives becomes a miracle.

We’re human…we lose control. But God never does. He is consistently in control at all times. His hand is in all things and we have to be willing and quick to acknowledge that when come out of a serious situation where we have no other answer than to say, “But God.”

It’s not the universe. It’s not some great cosmic force. It was God and God alone. The creator of everything.

Which is mind blowing…because we’re talking about the creator of all taking interest in us and intervening in situations where we can’t help ourselves.

Psalm 8:4 “What is man, that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him?”

God’s Protection

God protected my wife and I last night. But, should we surprised? After all, all throughout scripture He promises to care for us. And last night He certainly came through….and I could not be more grateful for his intervention.

Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” 

It’s important to remember: God’s protection doesn’t always match our idea of safety.

Sometimes God lets us get hurt—because healing brings wisdom.

Or He gives us “No” answers because the “Yes” would lead toward destruction for us.

At other times He lets bad things happen. He could’ve very well allowed last night to be a bad thing to happen.

But we don’t understand all of His ways or the why’s for allowing things to happen.

I’m just grateful that last night He didn’t let the bad thing happen, but rescued us in a VERY scary time of need.

REFLECTION

At this point I’m just writing this article as a form of reflection on the events of last night. On one hand I don’t want to forget how I was rescued. On the other I absolutely want to forget about how foolish and careless I was, which was so close to leading to disaster.

But maybe it’s best I don’t forget that I was so careless.

By remembering the near outcome of my foolishness perhaps it will force me to be more cautious when needed.

It was a hard lesson…but it was a lesson learned indeed.