Dear People (and future Edward),
For the past week or so, I debated whether I should write about my accident on 11/20/2011, 12:47pm. I finally opted for yes because this blog is not only for you, my readers, but mainly for myself to remember past lessons. Humanity has a tendency to forget miracles. A few weeks ago I came remarkably close to death, yet came out of the incident completely unscathed. For the next few days, I lived with with a simple exhilaration of being alive; it is now merely 11 days later and that feeling has already started to fade. Already, I am forgetting when I do not want to forget. Such is human nature, and so I write:
I was on a particularly twisted exit ramp going from one freeway to another when this happened. The road was wet from the rain. I was driving just a little too fast when my tires slipped on the road. My immediate reaction upon losing control of my car was to tap the brakes. Stupid. If you're ever in this situation, take your foot off the gas pedal and try to keep your car going straight until you feel traction under your wheels again. Regardless, my braking caused the car to spin in a wild 180° arc into the merging lane on my right where I narrowly passed right in between two cars. Then I spun off the edge of the freeway and my car rolled onto its ceiling before grinding to a halt a few meters off the freeway shoulder. I couldn't believe that I was alive. In retrospect, I should've taken a picture while I was hanging upside down. It would've made for one EPIC Facebook profile picture. As it was; I fought down waves of claustrophobia, rolled down my window and crawled out of my car completely uninjured.
Now, I can turn around and thank Honda engineering for designing such a crash resistant vehicle. But I know the true credit goes completely to God for his mercy upon me that day. It was not my time. It was a day of little bits. It rained just a little bit, I drove just a little bit fast, slipped just a little bit, braked just a little bit - and my world was turned upside down. On the FLIP side...had I gone just a little bit faster or slower, I would've hit another car; had I slid just a little bit less, I would've remained on the freeway where I could've easily collided with another car turning around the corner. All in all, this was a miracle. A fact chillingly punctuated by the story relayed to me of a lady who passed away just a few days prior in almost the exact same accident.
THIS, is what I am slowly forgetting and I wish it wasn't so. I wish I could hold onto the feelings of exhilaration and vitality. I wish I could remember how much I loved my friends and family in what I thought was my final moment. I wish I could still look upon a sunset with such wonder as I did the following day. I wish so much that I could remain completely aware of God's mercy and grace upon my life. And so I write.
May we continuously see how GOOD God is, and remember what he has done in our lives.
Edward
glad you're still here. =)
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