We Are All Theologians

"Early in our marriage Kathy and I travelled to New Brunswick for the holidays. We were driving a Plymouth Horizon, which is basically a silver box on wheels, but it was reliable.

Unfortunately, at this time, the heater in the car wasn’t working well at all, which made the trip to –20°C New Brunswick a challenge. With minimal heat and a positive attitude, we hit the road and made it to Kathy’s family home without too much trouble.

While in New Brunswick, the heater in our car basically conked out. That’s not the mechanical term, but that’s what happened.

So, as we prepared for the 14-hour trek back home, Kathy’s mom packed extra food, and gave us blankets to keep warm, and off we went.

A few hours into our drive, trying to keep our minds off the fact that we were starting to feel like frozen entrees, somewhere in the middle of nowhere Quebec, we saw two guys walking alongside the side of the highway with a vehicle in the background. We pulled over and asked if they were alright. A little confused they said they were, but the girls were not.

I asked, “What girls are you talking about?” And they pointed over the embankment and said, “They are in the truck.”

I looked over the guardrail and 40-feet down was a large SUV on its side, with one woman lying on the ground.

Without thinking (and I kind of wish I had), I ran down the hill through 3-feet of snow to get to them. I found three ladies inside the truck crying and the fourth was conscious but with a large gash in her head. It looked deep and awful, but I think the cold weather saved her from bleeding to death.

I yelled to Kathy to throw down our blankets, which she did. I wrapped the lady’s head with a towel and propped myself where the windshield used to be, facing the ladies inside the vehicle to assess the situation. Though in some pain, no one seemed seriously hurt, but they were scared and cold. By this time, I was feeling cold as well because I had no hat or gloves anymore.

I talked with them and tried my best to keep them calm and reassure them that they would be okay. It turns out they were heading to PEI and towing the vehicle we saw earlier behind their truck. For some reason, the vehicle jack-knifed and flipped them over the edge.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, with a crowd forming up top, Kathy had the two gentlemen in our car feeding them our lunch.

No one else offered to help (not even two police officers) but waited for an ambulance. A truck driver from Ontario did stop and brought us his huge comforter from his rig and we wrapped the ladies up as best we could.

The EMS finally arrived and one by one we carried each lady up the steep, snow-covered bank to safety.

The entire ordeal took about an hour, and when the group was safely taken to the nearest hospital, we got inside our car.

As I sat in the driver’s seat, I was overcome with pain from being out in the wind and cold without proper gear. To make matters worse, we had no food and no blankets because we sent them along with those in the accident.

I fought back tears, but I must tell you, I have never been so cold. The pain was excruciating, and I wasn’t sure what we were going to do.

Kathy and I sat for a few minutes, and I said, “Well, let’s pray.” So, I did. “God, thank you that we were able to help those people and we pray they are going to be okay, but we are not okay. We are cold and I’m not sure what to do right now.”

That’s all I remember praying and when we opened our eyes, we looked at each other and I said, “Well, I guess we keep going.”

I turned the key, the engine started, and you want to know something? The heater came on. At first just cold air as you would expect, but slowly as we waited, it got warmer and warmer until full heat came on as if nothing was wrong with it.

I couldn’t believe it.

We looked at each other and with tears rolling down my face, we drove on.

The heater continued to work perfectly until we hit Toronto, an hour from home and then it went cold again. By then, we didn’t care we were just elated that we were warm and were going to make it home.

The heater never worked after that.

So, what do you think? Did God hear my prayer and respond by miraculously giving us enough heat to get home?

Or is there a human answer? Maybe you’re a mechanic and you can explain it away, but I can’t. All I can say is God knew our situation. God knew we were in trouble, and He responded to my prayer and our need.

Now, I’m not suggesting God always acts this way or that He will always get us out of jams. But will you at least consider that God is aware of who you are and what you need?

Maybe looking above is worth it."

(From Vantage Point: Five Perspectives to Live a Better Story, page 137-140)

Until next time - Dan

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