Mar 28, 2026 – Timing
JC – “To increase your intimacy with Me, the two traits you need the most are receptivity and attentiveness. Receptivity is opening up your innermost being to be filled with My abundant riches. Attentiveness is directing your gaze to Me: searching for Me in all your moments…. Through such attentiveness you receive a glorious gift: My perfect Peace.”
On Tuesday nights, Don plays a big band gig in Tuscaloosa which is just under an hour away. He works through lunch so that he and his long-time friend and fellow band-member can leave late afternoon to arrive in time for setup. I was on the phone when he left; so, along with the quick kiss, I only took a second to say, “Be safe.” Oftentimes when people leave, I offer a breath prayer, “God be with you.” Though that’s not what I said that day, the sentiment was certainly there – and He was.
A short while later at 4:23pm, my phone buzzed with a text from Don and the first thing I saw was a photo (above) of what looked like an accident – with fire – and these words: “Huge fire on i20. We are stuck. Explosions.” Stuck how? More information please! The photo helped my eyes tell my mind to remain calm and realize that they were observers and not involved.
A garbage truck ran out of gas or power, and since he didn’t get all the way off onto the shoulder, he put out cones; but, either he didn’t get them placed well enough to catch the attention of the vehicles behind him or the 18-wheeler came upon him too quickly. Fortunately the truck driver was still out of the truck when the 18-wheeler swerved and caught the corner of the truck flipping it upside down; however, as the 18-wheeler skidded across the interstate, he pinned a sedan up against the concrete median and they both went up in flames. The driver of an 18-wheeler that stopped just short of the accident, rescued the 18-wheeler driver and the two passengers in the sedan. Thankfully there were no deaths and only those three vehicles were involved. It could have been much worse.
I thought back to the moments after Don left when he came back in for something he forgot; and, I wondered if he would have been ahead of the accident without coming back or if coming back kept him from being IN the accident. He said they didn’t hear the crash, but they saw something happening ahead of them so they, and everyone driving ahead, next to, and behind them, began slowing down. Don was “attentive” to his driving and to the Holy Spirit’s promptings. And, though he and others were willing to help the victims, the driver of the 2nd 18-wheeler was attentive and receptive enough to run back to his truck for his hammer when he wasn’t able to get the people out of their vehicles at first.
When Don stopped, his car was a truck-and-two-car-lengths from the scene. He always says breath prayers, “Lord be with them” when he sees/hears emergency vehicles. I haven’t thought to ask him if his prayers this time were a little louder or if he even had breath to pray.
Knowing that his mom keeps up with the news, I thought about letting her know that he was ok, but for some reason decided to wait in case she wasn’t aware. Don said it didn’t cross his mind to call her or anyone else during any of the six hours they waited there while the emergency crews tended to the injured, got the truck upright, and cleared the debris enough to at last tell the bystanders to go back to their cars and be ready to roll. Don had been calm through the whole ordeal, but when he finally got home around 11:30pm, sunburned and chilled to the bone, the shock seemed to settle in as he ate the hot soup I had ready for him.
The next morning he text’d his mother and sister and her reply is mainly why I’m sharing this story. Her first response was, “Oh my!!! I read all about that and saw pictures on FB. Praise God for taking care of y’all!!!” I told her I was surprised that she hadn’t called and that, “Perhaps God protected you from even wondering if he could have been involved….” She replied, “God did protect me from worrying. I’ve been trying to figure out why I wasn’t aware he was on his way to Tuscaloosa like I am every week and looked back at my messages and that was during the time that I was texting about….and had totally forgotten it was Tuesday.” She had a handful of issues that she was dealing with that weren’t everyday issues. God knew she needed the distractions!
She wrote, “I kept checking FB about that wreck and reading people’s comments and praying for everybody impacted by it and just didn’t realize I was including my own son in those prayers!” I told her, “Your prayers are probably why he was so calm and patient!!” I think most Christians have been sensitized to praying for people and situations when God brings them to mind. Things like this are reminders about how important it is to be His hands and feet when He asks, even if He asks in the middle of the night. That reminds me of one time when I woke in the middle of the night and prayed for Alex (one of my sons) only to find out later in the day that he’d been in a precarious situation (right at the time I was praying) at a bus stop in NYC while heading to the airport for a very early morning flight home. A group of angels, I mean people, appeared just in time to help him out of the situation.
Simpson tells us, “Goodness is a fruit of the Spirit. [Gal. v. 22] Goodness is just ‘Godness.’ It is to be like God. And God-like goodness gives us the difference between goodness and righteousness in this passage in Romans, ‘Scarcely for a righteous man would one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.’ [The 18-wheeler driver comes to mind here who risked his life to save the three.] …Goodness respects ‘whatsoever things are lovely.’ It is kindness, affectionateness, benevolence, sympathy, rejoicing with them that do rejoice, and weeping with them that weep. Lord, fill us with Thyself, and let us be God-men and good men, and so represent Thy goodness.”
