Psalm ch118.v1,4-8
O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever... Let them now that fear the Lord say, that his mercy endureth for ever. I called upon the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear what can man do unto me. The Lord taketh my part with them that help me... It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.
I was headed south on my way to one of my employer's ATM locations just a few miles from my office to fix a broken fascia and reinstall the monitor. (Working on these ATMs is probably my least favorite part of my job.) On the way there, I came up to an intersection where the east/west lanes have a stop sign, but the north/south lanes do not stop. I've been though this intersection literally hundreds of times before and I've always heard that it is a dangerous spot. As I topped the little hill just to the north of the intersection, I looked down at the speedometer which said I was moving at about 60 MPH. I saw a car at the stop sign on the west side of the intersection pull out and make left hand turn (northbound). Then I saw a white pickup drive up to the stop sign, stop, and then pull out right in front of me. I had no time to step on the breaks. I didn't see any on-coming traffic in the northbound lane, so I swerved left as much as I could to lessen the impact. I can remember most of the sequence of event very clearly. I can still see the front driver's side fender of the pick up rolling straight towards me. I can remember pulling the steering wheel toward the left and bracing for the impact. I can visualize my head hitting the rearview mirror and falling back into my seat, then the airbags deploying, then I couldn't see the road anymore. I knew the car was still moving, so I tried turning my body towards my driver side door and curling up in the seat to avoid any more potential impact(s). Then the car hit something and my right shoulder slammed into the steering wheel. That's when I got out of the car.
The car that was behind me pulled over and dialed 911. Several other vehicles stopped to check things out. The driver of the pickup came over to check on me. He was fine; I thought I was going to be just fine once I got cleaned up. I called back to my office to let them know what happened. And I remembered that a close friend of mine and fellow church member had just walked in the door to do some business as I was leaving. I asked if he would come pick me up since my car was obviously in no shape to be on the road. I called my wife to let her know what happened and left her a brief but calm voicemail (she never answers her phone).
The first (local) officer on the scene asked me to sit down. I was perfectly content to stand. Next an off duty (another local) officer that had stopped came over to question me. I answered his questions and politely declined the medical attention for religious reasons. Finally the highway patrol officer arrived and was the one that ended up working the accident. He had a few questions for me as well and I reiterated the fact that I was going to decline the medical attention. I'm sure that I looked a sight with streaks of dried blood all over my face/head. He said I was going to need stitches. But I must have been convincing enough. He radioed back to the ambulance not to bother showing up. That was a surprise and a relief.
When the highway patrol officer came over to give me a print out of his initial accident report, he asked, "So you're not even going to take an asprin or anything?"
"No, sir", I replied.
"Man, I feel sorry for you in the morning." He responded.
By the time my friend arrived (in the time it took him to drive less than ten miles), there were already three other church members that just happened to be passing by at that time who had already stopped to check on me. My friend took me back to his house and helped get me cleaned up (my wife isn't the best at dealing with a bloody mess, and I wasn't sure if I could really get myself cleaned up).
The car was deemed a total loss.
Warning... Bloody Pictures Below...
I got a new haircut out of the deal :)
A few of the absolutely amazing things about my accident and injuries:
- The accident happened on a Wednesday afternoon. I worked from home on Thursday just in case I started bleeding all over the place. And when I went back to the office on Friday, I didn't even need a band-aid; it was actually healed that much!
- It took longer for my black eye to subside than it did for the gashes on my head to heal over.
- No concussion; I never even had a headache! 60 mph collision and NO HEADACHE!
- The picture below is from Thursday 12/27, about 30 hours after the accident (I didn't need stitches after all).
Psalm ch118.v17
I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.
I didn't die. Maybe I should have, but since I didn't, I will declare the works of the Lord. God's mercy preserved my life and granted a speedy recovery.
Looking back on it after the fact, if I would have slammed on the breaks, I quite possibly would have collided directly into the driver side door of the pickup and the outcome could have been much different for both myself and the other driver.
Send me a message on twitter if you want: @SudoSec
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