Misadventures and Miracles

I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. – Isaiah 46:4

When something goes wrong in the medical world, doctors call it a “medical misadventure.” Tuesdays seem to be my family’s day for misadventures this month, and Wednesdays are our miracle days. This week is no different.

You may recall that last Tuesday I got word that my grandmother was gravely ill, but on Wednesday, I was blessed with the news that she made a turn for the better. She is still holding her own this week and I am going to Arkansas to see her next month.

This Tuesday, my phone rang at 10:00 at night. Phone calls at 10:00 p.m. rarely bring good news, and this one was no exception. My parents were in a horrible car accident. They were passengers in a friend’s car on I-25, the main highway through Denver, when a man driving at a speed the police estimate to be 110 miles per hour crashed into them. The impact sent the car that my parents were in spinning in circles across the highway until they hit a retaining wall on the side of the road and the airbags deployed. The other car flipped onto its side, and from this precarious position, the driver actually managed to open the exposed door and climb through, and ran off down the interstate on foot.

My parents were taken by ambulance to Denver General Medical Center, which is the state’s primary hospital for both the most severe traumas and people who don’t have insurance coverage. This combination makes for an emergency room very much like what you see on the television show “ER” when there is a citywide crisis, except that this emergency room is about four times bigger than the one on TV, and I got the impression it is always crowded and crazy.

When I got there, a security guard walked me into the building and to a reception area. The guard took my purse and handed it to a person working the main desk to be searched. This wasn’t the kind of search you get at a football game where the attendant sort of peeks in to make sure there is nothing big or obvious poking out. I am pretty sure this guy trained with the Transportation Safety Administration, because he really searched. I was beginning to wonder if I would be swabbed for explosives as he asked if I had any knives, pepper spray, or other weapons. He finally surrendered my purse and issued me a visitor’s pass that I was to keep with me at all times. Then another security guard escorted me to my parents. We left the over-stuffed waiting room and made our way through a maze of hallways where patients on gurneys were actually being treated in the halls because there were no more “curtains” available. One man was sitting up in a regular hospital bed in the hallway. I was relieved to find both of my parents resting behind the same “curtain.”

To make a five-hour story short, things didn’t look too good when I arrived at the hospital. My parents and their friends were involved in what very easily could have been a fatal accident. God was clearly holding them in his hands, because once the blood was washed away, the X-rays and CAT scans taken, the neck braces removed, and blood tests performed, my parents were discharged. My father left the hospital with no medical treatment of any kind. My mother had a large cut on her forehead, but the doctor who stitched it up said he expected of a full recovery. My parent’s friends were taken to a different hospital where the husband received four staples to a cut in the back of his head. His wife suffered the most serious injury—a cracked sternum. There is no treatment for this, so on Wednesday morning, all four of them miraculously went home to sleep in their own beds and work through the bruises, black eyes, swelling, aches and pains to come. Once again, Tuesday’s misadventure ended in Wednesday’s miracle.

It has not escaped my attention that God is probably trying to teach us something through these events, and He likely has a different lesson for each of us. For me, I think it has to do with not just understanding that He is in control of my life, but actively living in a way that acknowledges this fact. Proverbs 19:21 tells us, “Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

My plans for the day suddenly seemed insignificant after spending the night in the emergency room. I had no problem bowing out of different responsibilities last week when I thought I would make an emergency trip to Arkansas. Seeing how insignificant my plans truly are gives me a new perspective on the time I dedicate to God. Activities that once seemed so important can now wait until I have prayed about what God wants from me during the day.

Perhaps I can teach my children this lesson before they have day timers and schedules. I think there is an element of pride in having a busy day, and business outside of God’s will is just a waste of effort and energy. If I can instill this truth in my kids before they get sucked into “planner prison,” it could be a blessing to them. If you have any thoughts or suggestions on how to do this, please share them.

I am thankful that I am now busy praising God for protecting my parents and for holding them during this accident. Please join me in praying for their speedy recoveries.