"The Lord gives and the Lord takes away... blessed be the name of the Lord!"

I never dreamed I would be posting a follow-up blog about our new car.  Since I shared the story of how God had provided us this new car, last week, I thought I should tell you...the rest of the story.

I had mentioned in the previous post that I had asked Charles to do the car-trading while I was in Africa, but he did not.  I did not want any part of it.  He reminded me, when he read the blog post, that he couldn't do anything with the car while I was gone since Rachel was driving it while I was away.  

Obviously, this was an experience God wanted us to experience together. 

Wednesday, June 20

Last Friday afternoon, two days and 60 miles after we got the new car, Charles and I decided to run a couple of errands and drop something by the Bradshaw's home.  It began to rain as we got closer to their home.  By the time we arrived it was raining so hard that I decided to drive around the block before stopping.  If we tried to get out of the car to go inside we would easily be drenched instantly.  Maybe the rain would slack off in a few minutes.  

As we drove passed the Bradshaw's home things only got worse.  It was raining so hard we could only see a few feet in front of us.  I was probably only driving 5 maybe 10 mph.  The wind was horrific!  Every once in a while the rain slowed enough so we could see huge trees swaying back and forth.  Small branches of trees were falling onto the road in front of us.  I had just asked Charles if I should try and find somewhere to pull over, until the storm passed, when suddenly...THUD, CRUNCH! Simultaneously, the entire windshield caved in unexpectedly and we were surrounded with green leaves pressing against not only the windshield but also the window on the driver's side of the car...my side.  I didn't put the brake on, but we were no longer moving forward.  I put the car in PARK.  I kept waiting for the windshield to fall into our laps.  Thankfully, it did not!  Charles asked if I was okay; I told him I was fine.  I asked if he was okay; he was fine, too.  Neither one of us had a scratch on us!  Thank God!

Friday, June 22

When Charles called 911, once they found out we were not injured, they told us to stay in the car until the police arrived, in case there might be power lines down, too.  Biltmore Forest police arrived about 10 minutes later; one in front of us and one behind us.  They helped me get out of the car, but since Charles could not open his door he crawled out on my side.  They explained that it took them so long to get to us because there were other trees down along the way to us.  

There were actually two trees that fell across the road, but only branches of the trees hit the car windshield and hood.  The largest was probably 2 feet in diameter at the base of the tree--an oak. 

We called the Bradshaws to let them know what happened and they came to be with us, bringing umbrellas and water bottles.  It was such a comfort to have friends/believers with us during this time.  About 30 minutes later and numerous phone calls later--to report the accident to our insurance company and AAA for towing--a front-end loader and man with a chainsaw showed up.  Enough branches were cut so that Charles could back the car out from under the tree so the front-end loader could push the trees out of the road.  Someone would come back later to finish the job. 

You can see where many small pieces of glass fell all over Charles; 
the V where he was sitting and the places where his feet were.

As Charles was backing the car up, out from under the trees, WLOS news pulled up. They wanted to interview me.  At first I thought, "This is crazy!" I really didn't think this was much of a "story", but I consented.  God allowed me to share that He was the One to protect us and they even put that part on the news!  I am thankful I wasn't too proud to be interviewed, even if that was my first reaction. 

 

Since it was Friday afternoon when this happened, it will be sometime next week before we know if the car will be "totaled" or if they require us to fix it.  Many people believe it is totaled because of the damage to Charles' side of the car.

 

 

 

We are both fully aware that had we been only a second sooner, we could easily have been seriously injured or even killed.  Honestly, concerning the car, it was easy for me to say, "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord."  Had it been Charles, that He took away...could I say the same thing? 

Job 1:21

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
    and naked I will depart.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
    may the name of the Lord be praised.”