The Miracle of December 15, 2006

Last night I had a wonderful reminder of just how amazing my God is.

The Elevate Team and I had our last youth group for the year, with the fitting theme being "White Christmas". Not that it snowed in Wingham last night, but it was cold and wet and the streamers and paper snowflakes looked awesome, and besides all that it was indeed Christmas.

We had a few games, fed the troops, chased after the one particular kid who keeps us all on our toes and seemingly teaches us patience and love in the most extreme ways. (Thanks God!!) haha. But in the midst of all this we had the awesome opportunity to share with the kids once more, the love of God and His gift to us. We got to introduce the kids to Jesus again. Possibly the last time for the year.
Admittedly I was in the kitchen while the video of the Christmas story was being played (go Vegietales!!) but afterwards was pretty cool. Everyone was kind of sitting around waiting for parents to arrive and what not when one of the guys mentioned that he heard there were going to be presents given out that night and wanted to know where his was. This became an opportunity for us to share the whole meaning of Christmas and the beauty of Jesus being the best gift you could ever receive....and He lasts all year, no batteries required! (sorry, my lame joke added)
Anyway the guy was saying stuff like "oh but I want something I can play with, Jesus doesn't have fun" kinda thing and I was like "dude....you have no idea - some of the most fun I've had is when me and JC just hang out and chat and when I get together with other Christians...I reckon we have the most fun, and the best part is, we remember it all in the morning, no sore heads".

But anyhoo, after everyone had left, the girls and I decided to head into McDonalds for supper....one last time. It had been ages since we had done that and we all felt like chatting and just catching up in general. I guess God had other plans.
Little did we know we were to be part of an absolute miracle in just a few minutes time.

So, we were heading into the next town, all laughing and carrying on and saying how much fun the year had been and excitedly throwing ideas at each other for next year.
Sal turned down the usual street for us to head to Maccas and was cruising along when she saw something ahead. We all saw it but couldn't make out what it was until we were closer. There, just a few hundred metres ahead was a car, in the middle of the road...overturned and lying on it's roof.

At first I couldn't make sense of the situation and kinda froze in my seat. No sooner had we come to a stop, Sal said so matter of factly, "we need to pray". And can I just say how incredible it was to have a car full of young women all praying for a miracle. At this stage we had no idea what was going on, how many people were involved, if people were still trapped in the car, if people were injured etc, but we just sent a prayer to God, and you can be damn sure He answered. He was there the whole time, before we arrived and I truly hope He was there long after.
We said our prayer and were about to get out of the car to see if there was anything we could do to help. There were a few people standing around but it wasn't clear who was hurt, who was involved and who was simply being a sticky beak. Almost the second Sal got out of the drivers seat and we were still in the back, a truck was coming along the same road we had travelled, only he seemed to be coming towards us really fast. Sal immediately stood in the middle of the road waving her arms signalling slow down...there were hazard lights flashing on the overturned car aswell as our headlights and hazard lights but this driver obviously wasn't paying attention because he maintained his speed and was fast approaching the accident site. I just remember thinking "oh my God...he's going to hit it" and just became paralysed with fear of what was about to unfold.
Sal later told us that all that was running through her head was "In the name of Jesus slow down, in the name of Jesus, do not crash, this isn't going to happen, it can't happen, in the name of Jesus....." I'm pretty sure God heard her prayers loud and clear because it was nothing short of a miracle what we saw last night.
Up until about 10m before the accident the truck seemed to be going the same speed, then without slamming on his breaks or skidding or anything it just came to a stop....seriously only a few metres from the vehicle.
We were all so amazed that it didn't hit the car, because it sure looked like it was going to.

After the truck slowly went around the car and headed on down the road the rest of us got out of the car to talk to the driver and check that he was okay. Sherie was on the phone to the ambulance relaying messages and ensuring them that he, quite remarably, was fine. Not a scratch on him, perhaps a little shocked, but very very calm and quiet.

Sal, being this incredible woman of God, asked the young guy if we could pray for him. So we sat. On the curb, as the rain fell over us and embraced this young guy in body and in spirit. I was completely overwhelmed with the presence of God as the group of us girls joined in prayer thanking God for His protection over Aiden and asked He continue to keep him and his family safe (his parents were away...it was their car) and prayed he was okay and that his parents would understand it was an accident. I didn't notice but Sal later told me that Aiden crossed himself after we prayed...so perhaps he was a believer aswell.

I guess now I can realise the incredible act of servanthood and obedience Sal displayed last night. Here we were, just doing our thing when we came across an accident. Sure, we stopped and offered our assistance, but she went further than that. She stepped out in faith and asked a stranger if we could pray for him. I'm not so sure if it had been me on my own in that situation if I would have done the same.
Just moments before, I passed up the opportunity to share with one of the women of a neghbouring house when she stated "I don't know how the bloody hell that truck stopped". I wanted to say, not boastfully, but simply share that we were praying. Yes we were scared too, but we know God can do anything.....and He well and truly saved us all from something that could have been horrific. Instead I said "yeah I know...pretty crazy huh?"

But you know, God can use anything and even though I don't believe He caused the crash to happen so we could witness to people, I do believe He had His hand in it all. He guided us to that accident because He trusted Sal to be His witness that night. He knew something good could come of it, and perhaps when Aiden reflects on his "lucky escape" he will remember us praying together and he will see God was there all along. Perhaps his Christmas this year will be a little different, perhaps Jesus will be part of it. Perhaps his life will have more meaning now, perhaps he will see he was saved by the grace of God and he will explore the enormity of that.

I tell you this. I was so overcome as we (the girls and I) prayed together again after sitting with Aiden. I just sensed how much God truly cares for us, protects us, loves us. And the lengths He will go to save one of His children, whether they know Him or not. I don't know where Aiden stands with God. I don't know his heart, but I do know this. God knows it, God loves it and He sure did everything to show him last night.

And you know, something good is coming out of it. Just today as I headed into work I felt that I could share this miracle story with my boss, who just so happens to be my future sister-in-law. Usually I don't say much about this kind of thing because of the reactions I receive. But today was different. I felt confident in sharing the story. I told how awesome it was to pray with a stranger and just feel so blessed, knowing we had seen a miracle.
Sure, the reaction was still similar, trying to rationalise and explain things, make sense of it, give reason to such occurences. And the typical "you're a freak" because I believe in God.
But today instead of just leaving it at that, I went a little further. I played MY music in the stereo today. Usually I don't have a chance....no one will let me play Christian music in the kitchen but I snuck it in today and made sure I pointed out one song in particular.
As track 10 of Revive's new album began to play I turned to Rik and said "you have to hear this...it's one of my favourites". And as the chorus played and asked the question "why does everybody think that Christians are a bunch of losers?" Rik looked at me and said "because you are". And you know what, I was kinda overjoyed. It made me happy that yes, I am different, you don't "get" what I'm on about sometimes, but whether you call me a freak, a loser, a retard.....whatever, it doesn't matter anymore. I'm okay with that. I'm more than okay... I'll sing loud and proud and hold the L to my forehead and state that, yes indeed "I am proud to be a loser".