Friday, January 4, 2013

Psalm 121:1-8

Psalm 121:1-8
I lift up my eyes to the hills- where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip-he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD watches over you-the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm-he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

we got that phone call.
you know, the one that no parent ever wants to receive.
the one that says your child has been in an accident.
fortunately, for us, it was austin doing the calling so i knew, at least for that moment, he was ok.
i answered my phone and all he said was "well, we rolled it".
"rolled what?!"
"the truck".

after asking questions...
are you hurt?
where are you?
are the police there?
...and trying to cope with my mixed emotions of wanting to kill him and hug him at the same time we went after them.
they were about twenty minutes away from where we were so we raced there.
i had no idea what we would find.
all i knew that they they had rolled the truck.
were they covered in cuts and bruises?
was anything broken?
whiplash?
internal bleeding?
we had no idea.

they were on a dirt road in the foothills so as we made the drive up the hill we could sporadically see flashing lights.
we pull around the corner and this is all i could see.

 as we got closer we finally saw the truck.





the boys said they were coming around the corner, hit ice and started sliding.
i can only assume that austin tried to correct and just couldn't get it righted.
the officer said that it looked like they fishtailed several times before they flipped, which made it worse.
the boys don't remember what happened.
they said they were sliding and the next thing they knew they were upside down.
it looked serious upside down.
my child and another mother's child were in this car.
and that was bad enough.


then they flipped it over. 
they didn't just roll the truck.
they hit the ditch and the back end flipped up and over and smashed down onto the edge of the ditch.
the brunt of the impact was in the middle.
right between them.
the officer said that had they landed cross ways they probably wouldn't have made it.
had it been a few inches either direction their heads would've been under that crease.

i know that god watches over our children.
i pray for them daily to be safe in his hands.
this is proof of that protection.
those two boys were able to walk away with no visible effects other than a tiny scratch on austin's hand.
they will be sore and banged up for a few days but when i look at these pictures i think of what might have been and can do nothing but praise god for giving them another chance and giving us more time with them.

2 comments:

Kelly said...

Oh my goodness, Jen! When I looked at the pictures this morning, I knew it was an act of God that kept them safe. Reading the officer's words just makes it all the more real. How scary! We've had some of those "What if this had happened differently" incidents (Graham almost drowning in a hotel pool at the coast, Carson choking on a grape & having to call 911...) and I know how easy it is to think over and over about what could've happened. Don't let your mind go there too much. I still have times where I see Graham floating in the water in my mind and have to force myself to thank God for protecting him and then think of something else entirely.
There were so many people praying for you guys last night and rejoicing with you this morning that the boys are okay. God is and will be glorified in this!

sara b said...

Jen - I'm so thankful God allowed the boys to walk away with minor injuries. I can't imagine what you must have felt and continue to feel. I prayed for you last night. Having a daughter that is only a few months away from driving, it really hit home for me. The first part of your post is what struck me the most. Your first words were from Him. He was with Austin and He is with you. We have an awesome God and in our struggles and bad circumstances, we can choose to bring glory to Him and you did. Well done mom. I'll continue to pray for you guys. Again, so glad they were okay.