Working the closing shift is not bad except for the long drive home at 3:00 A.M. after a hard day's work. Half of the trip is interstate driving which is not too bad; however, the final leg of the journey is along a dark and winding back country road. The entire drive home usually takes one-hour with very little or no traffic.
Normally, I would be so wound up from work that I didn't get sleepy on the way home but this particular night I was extremely tired because we were short handed at work and I was really exhausted. After about forty-minutes my eyes started to get very heavy and my mind would start to wander. Before I realized it, I found myself drifting off to sleep as I was driving.
I rolled down the windows to let in some cold night air in hopes that it would keep me awake. I was more than half-way home so I figured I could make it. To make matters worse it began to rain and visibility decreased as the monotonous swish of the windshield wipers lulled me further into a sleepy state.
I turned the radio up full blast and tried to get into the music to keep me awake. But now my eyes were straining because of the heavy rain. Every once in a while my head would drop and I would jolt upright realizing that I had once again closed my eyes! There was no place to pull over on this back road and rest for a little bit so I pushed myself and kept on driving.
The radio was starting to annoy me so I turned it off and hoped that the occasional splatter of wet, cold rain coming in the window and hitting my face would keep me awake. Almost home now, only about fifteen-minutes to go!
Suddenly, I was startled by a voice in the passenger seat as I felt a heavy tap on my shoulder. "Wake up Mike", the voice said. I could not figure out who was in the car with me and I glanced over to see who was there but saw nobody. Just then, I realized that something was very wrong and I could feel the car leave the pavement and head into the woods! Instinctively, I slammed on the brakes and looked up just in time to jerk the steering wheel with all of my strength to avoid a big tree that was directly in front of me!
My car came to a stop just a few feet from the tree and I could feel my heart racing as I turned the engine off and tried to catch my breath. I sat there for quite a while just reflecting on what had happened and I knew that an angel had tapped me on the shoulder and called my name to awaken me just in the nick of time. If I had stayed asleep even a split second longer my car would have hit that big tree head on and I'm sure that I would have been killed!
I have gone over this incident many times in my head since that fateful night and I am certain that I did not imagine a voice calling my name and I know without a doubt that someone did tap me on the shoulder!
Yes, I believe in angels; how about you?
This is a true story that happened to me about thirty-years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I have many more angel stories and will post some of them soon.
4 comments:
Mike, I remember this incident as if you were just telling it to me yesterday. It was shortly after Daddy died. You told me you felt as if Daddy had tapped you on the shoulder and awoken you. I believed it then and I still believe it to this day. Angels do exist and I believe and take comfort in knowing they are watching over us! I truly think that Daddy was watching over you that morning and that he tapped you to let you know to wake up. Thanks for reminding me of that story. Love your sister, Barb
Great story and beautiful blog! I had a similiar story where I dozed off at about 2 in the morning and I heard a voice, whether audible or in my head I dont know, but it said wake up. When I opened my eyes there were two deer not more than 20 feet in front of me standing really close together. Traveling at about 50 mph there was no way I was going to stop. I split them. There is no way that I should not have hit both of them. Miracles do happen!
I believe you. I shouldn't be alive today I should have died over seventeen years ago when I was two months old.
Mike, As a truck driver, I can attest to angels at work on the highways and byways.
We all seem to push it to the limit sometime or other.
Driving tractor trailer over the same 400 miles each work day adds boredom to drowsiness sometimes. I've tried all of the roll windows...loud music....etc.
I found something that really helps me. A lollipop....now before you laugh. A real hard candy sucker or tootsie roll pop, will last about 50 miles. I've never read of someone being pulled out of a smashup with a tootsie roll pop in their hand.
Angels do watch over us. One thing to remember.....if an angel saves you from certain death, God wants to talk with you while you are still on earth, so He has something He wants you to do.
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