Thanksgiving by Dn Joel Seah

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

I am not one that is given to melodrama but I am not over stating here when I say that Audrey, Faith and I would have gone home to the Lord this morning if not for the protection of our loving heavenly Father. 

Faith returned to us last weekend after 3 months in Singapore and this morning (Monday) is the first day of school. Audrey and I were concerned that she may not be ready to drive to school on her own on the very busy I-10 highway. So I took leave to accompany her and Audrey came along as she will accompany Faith for the rest of the week. What happened this morning was something we have always feared and asked that God will spare us. While driving during this morning peak hour, Faith had to avoid a mini Van or SUV that cut into our lane at the very last minute, a few feet to our right side. We are not sure what type of vehicle it was other than it is red color!  We were traveling at 70 mph, that is about 112 kph and this is the speed limit for the interstate / highway. This evasive action of Faith to avoid a collision caused our car to spin in the middle of a very very busy 5 lane highway at high speed. In the midst of the spin, I thought we will be hit from all sides or flipped but it did not happen. By the time Faith and I got the vehicle under control and stopped the spin, we were face to face with on coming traffic. By the power and grace of God, there was no traffic around us when we went into the spin. Maybe there was traffic but we did not notice how they stayed away from us. Again, this is definitely the protection of God. 

Looking at what happened, how other similar accidents would have caused a multiple car collision, we can only conclude that God is assuring us we are safe in Him. This is important to Audrey and me as we are now going through a phase in our lives where we realize that only God can watch over the hearts and soul of our children. We prayed for their salvation, their consecration and future only to be reminded that the Lord is the one that can really care for them. As parents, we made a covenant with God to raise them in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. Yet, many times, we do not see the children exhibiting the fruits of this heritage and we worry. We want to control only to be reminded that we need to release them into the arms of God. Maybe this is the only way we will learn that they are equal partners with us in the Lord and not just our children. 

The other strange thing that happened this morning was that we had no sense of fear in the middle of the chaos. There was peace while we were in a spin. Even when we were facing the on coming traffic, we did not panic and just look for ways to get back into the right traffic flow. There was also no anger with the red vehicle that caused us to go into the spin. Deep in our hearts, we were assured that God has a reason even though we do not know what it is. 

So, after we got back into the right traffic flow, I wanted Faith to pull to the side and take over but she says she was fine and we continued the remaining 17 miles to campus with sporadic thanks to God for His protection and trying to remember the details. We also thank God that Faith can see God’s hands in all these. Indeed, saved by the grace of God has a new meaning to us.

August 2007