I know this is going to sound like I'm a pre-teen boy, but it is the truth. I tend to think i'm slightly invincible. I mean, not really invincible, obviously. But scary things haven't happened to me, so it is one of those out-of-sight-out-of-mind things.
That is why my adventure the other day was a much-needed wake-up call. Allow me to tell you what happened.
It was a gorgeous day in Arizona. Temperatures were in the 60's, sky cloudy with some sun-rays shining through. My dad, brothers and sister-in-law were headed into the desert to do some quality quadding. I have been on a four-wheeler before, although haven't driven one. Driving things doesn't scare me. I'm not a daredevil, but I do know how to have a fun time. I was originally going to ride with my sister-in-law, but she wanted to go with my brother, so I got my own.
The open desert is beautiful. This was a little canyon we looked out over from one of our trails.
Joey is super-fierce on his lil quad.
My brother, Johnny, starting up the quad that I was driving. It was a hefty machine.
Me and Amy looking super legit in our helmetage.
So we go riding off through the desert. I was getting the hang of the ATV i was driving and learning how to ride the road-bumps and to get the most fun out of it! My fingers were a bit numb, as the wind-chill factor at 30 mph can be biting, and I had left my gloves in the car.
about half hour into our ride, we get to this steep hill. Both my brothers headed up, and I followed behind, with my dad bringing up the rear. Then we decided to go down the other side. My dad stopped everyone and told my brothers to check out the down-hill slope and see if it was safe for us to go down. It was a pretty steep incline with a v-ditch down the middle. My younger brother, Joe, checked it and said it was fine and went down. John told Amy to get off the ATV and walk down, since two going down wouldn't be very good. He went up on the left side and leaned away from ditch and made it down. I watched him do it, and headed down. I was careful, slow and began leaning against the gravitational pull.
Then i felt it lean to one side. My weight wasn't going to keep it upright. my instinct was to speed up and get down quicker. But then it just kept tipping. So I bailed. Straight up jumped off. since it was harder to jump opposite of the tipping ATV, I went the dangerous route. I thought with my weight off that it would right itself and just keep going down the hill. But it was too far gone. It continued tipping, straight toward me. As I saw it coming toward me, I turned around to protect my front-side, and ducked my head. The rest happened in a matter of seconds. It was crushing my ankle and foot, and I tried to push it off. I don't remember this, but supposedly it hit my head as I leaned down to push it off. It was heavy and I couldn't push it.
In that moment, my thoughts included, "This is it...I am going to get crushed. something will at least get broken. Oh, God...this is it, here I come. Oh no! the ATV is going to be ruined! I was so stupid!"
I was totally dazed, but next thing I knew, the quad was off of me and plummeting down the hill or more accurately, it was still flipping and rolling. I looked down and saw my brother, Joe scramble off his quad and run up the hill, yelling something I didn't hear. Pretty sure I've never seen him move so fast. But the quad was coming right for him and he tried to stop it. It was too heavy and almost crushed him too. I screamed, because watching my brother get hit by a quad was a sight I wasn't ready for, since I had obviously survived.
He thankfully got out of the way and wasn't hurt at all. My body was numb and I wasn't sure what had been hurt or how bad. My mind was spinning and I couldn't make any thoughts connect. Joe said he saw it roll over and hit my head and thought I would be knocked out for sure. After a few minutes, I started feeling where it hit me. My ankle hurt the worst, but within a few moments, I realized that it was just badly bruised, but nothing worse.
It was probably the most dangerous situation I'd been in so far in my life. A friend's dad had recently been in an ATV accident and was killed suddenly, and so I knew how fine that line was between badly bruised and dead. I should have been crushed. Bones should have been broken. But for some reason, I escaped with a lot of bruises and sore muscles. Minimal injury. This can only mean one thing.
There is a God. He is watching out for me. He's not done with me yet.
I'm so grateful. And that doesn't even begin to express it, though. I started the day thinking that accidents can't happen if you're not being crazy. And I ended the day realizing that anything can happen to anyone at any time. No one is exempt. Only the hand of God can allow or prevent anything from happening. So glad it's not just "lucky stars" or "karma"...
Remember that...life could change at any moment. I know it is cliche to say, "live each day like your last." So instead, I'd say, live each day realizing that in the blink of an eye, it could all change. There is only one thing that remains constant through life, death, injury, pain, loss, joy and change. and so clinging to that like a lifeline is the only way to make it through whatever comes. Trust Him...because words like, "let down" or "abandonment" or "second-guess" or "Plan B" or "surprises" or "accidents" are not in his vocabulary.
That is why my adventure the other day was a much-needed wake-up call. Allow me to tell you what happened.
It was a gorgeous day in Arizona. Temperatures were in the 60's, sky cloudy with some sun-rays shining through. My dad, brothers and sister-in-law were headed into the desert to do some quality quadding. I have been on a four-wheeler before, although haven't driven one. Driving things doesn't scare me. I'm not a daredevil, but I do know how to have a fun time. I was originally going to ride with my sister-in-law, but she wanted to go with my brother, so I got my own.
The open desert is beautiful. This was a little canyon we looked out over from one of our trails.
Joey is super-fierce on his lil quad.
My brother, Johnny, starting up the quad that I was driving. It was a hefty machine.
Me and Amy looking super legit in our helmetage.
So we go riding off through the desert. I was getting the hang of the ATV i was driving and learning how to ride the road-bumps and to get the most fun out of it! My fingers were a bit numb, as the wind-chill factor at 30 mph can be biting, and I had left my gloves in the car.
about half hour into our ride, we get to this steep hill. Both my brothers headed up, and I followed behind, with my dad bringing up the rear. Then we decided to go down the other side. My dad stopped everyone and told my brothers to check out the down-hill slope and see if it was safe for us to go down. It was a pretty steep incline with a v-ditch down the middle. My younger brother, Joe, checked it and said it was fine and went down. John told Amy to get off the ATV and walk down, since two going down wouldn't be very good. He went up on the left side and leaned away from ditch and made it down. I watched him do it, and headed down. I was careful, slow and began leaning against the gravitational pull.
Then i felt it lean to one side. My weight wasn't going to keep it upright. my instinct was to speed up and get down quicker. But then it just kept tipping. So I bailed. Straight up jumped off. since it was harder to jump opposite of the tipping ATV, I went the dangerous route. I thought with my weight off that it would right itself and just keep going down the hill. But it was too far gone. It continued tipping, straight toward me. As I saw it coming toward me, I turned around to protect my front-side, and ducked my head. The rest happened in a matter of seconds. It was crushing my ankle and foot, and I tried to push it off. I don't remember this, but supposedly it hit my head as I leaned down to push it off. It was heavy and I couldn't push it.
In that moment, my thoughts included, "This is it...I am going to get crushed. something will at least get broken. Oh, God...this is it, here I come. Oh no! the ATV is going to be ruined! I was so stupid!"
I was totally dazed, but next thing I knew, the quad was off of me and plummeting down the hill or more accurately, it was still flipping and rolling. I looked down and saw my brother, Joe scramble off his quad and run up the hill, yelling something I didn't hear. Pretty sure I've never seen him move so fast. But the quad was coming right for him and he tried to stop it. It was too heavy and almost crushed him too. I screamed, because watching my brother get hit by a quad was a sight I wasn't ready for, since I had obviously survived.
He thankfully got out of the way and wasn't hurt at all. My body was numb and I wasn't sure what had been hurt or how bad. My mind was spinning and I couldn't make any thoughts connect. Joe said he saw it roll over and hit my head and thought I would be knocked out for sure. After a few minutes, I started feeling where it hit me. My ankle hurt the worst, but within a few moments, I realized that it was just badly bruised, but nothing worse.
It was probably the most dangerous situation I'd been in so far in my life. A friend's dad had recently been in an ATV accident and was killed suddenly, and so I knew how fine that line was between badly bruised and dead. I should have been crushed. Bones should have been broken. But for some reason, I escaped with a lot of bruises and sore muscles. Minimal injury. This can only mean one thing.
There is a God. He is watching out for me. He's not done with me yet.
I'm so grateful. And that doesn't even begin to express it, though. I started the day thinking that accidents can't happen if you're not being crazy. And I ended the day realizing that anything can happen to anyone at any time. No one is exempt. Only the hand of God can allow or prevent anything from happening. So glad it's not just "lucky stars" or "karma"...
Remember that...life could change at any moment. I know it is cliche to say, "live each day like your last." So instead, I'd say, live each day realizing that in the blink of an eye, it could all change. There is only one thing that remains constant through life, death, injury, pain, loss, joy and change. and so clinging to that like a lifeline is the only way to make it through whatever comes. Trust Him...because words like, "let down" or "abandonment" or "second-guess" or "Plan B" or "surprises" or "accidents" are not in his vocabulary.
And this is why I love Him. Well that, and lots of other reasons too, of course.
1 comment:
I praise God for His grace... on me 34 yrs. ago at the Colorado River....and on you last Thursday in the Arizona desert...and so many more times, before, since and today... and I share your love for Him! Thanks for the post!!
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