---MYSTERIOUS WAYS ~~
~~More Than Coincidence ~~
--THERE'S a reason I always buckle up when I'm behind the wheel--and not just because that's what the law says. It's because of my father and the dream he once had. ~~Dad was a young man in 1961. He'd just enlisted in the Air Force and been ordered to report to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. He planned to pack his things and drive cross-country from his parents' house in Michigan. He was looking forward to the road trip. Then, a few nights before setting out, he had the dream.
He was in his car, a used Volvo, driving across the desert at dusk. He had never seen a desert before, but this seemed so real. The sky was bruised purple by the sunset, casting an eerie light on the empty road. The car approached a curve. Suddenly Dad lost control. The car spun out, then rolled over and over, bouncing across the desert scrub. That's when Dad woke up.
He'd rolled out of bed and onto the floor, heart pounding. He spent the rest of the night tossing and turning, trying to get the dream out of his mind and go back to sleep. Yet as the sun came up, he was still awake.
"That dream really scared me," he told me years later.
At the time, seat belts weren't mandatory and Dad's car didn't have them. But that morning, Dad went to a local auto parts store and bought a set. He and his father installed them in the Volvo the night before Dad would be leaving for the service.
Setting out for his new base, Dad felt better now that he was buckled up. But the trip was long and mostly on two-lane roads. Near the end of the third day, he crossed the state line from Utah into Nevada. He'd been driving through the starkness of the desert all day and hadn't seen another car for miles. As the sun set, his eyes grew heavy. Suddenly he was struck by a vivid sense of de'ja vu.
Ahead of him lay a sweeping curve. The car hit a patch of gravel. Before Dad could react, the car spun out, then rolled. It came to a halt, headlights illuminating the desert scrub. The car? Totaled. Dad? Unhurt except for a few bruises. Dad couldn't have been more grateful, and he let God know. He prayed thanksgiving, to the Lord.
You might say the newly installed seat belts saved Dad's life and ultimately made mine possible. I give credit to the dream that Dad (and I) never forgot. ~
--The Lord goes with us every where we go. [Psalm 23] ~
--Guideposts/SC~--"There Was Jesus" (lyric video) // Zach Williams & Dolly Parton <
https://youtu.be/3CNqhpRycfY>
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