Handing Over the Keys

My daughter and her friend had each been looking for the “perfect grad dress.” Not finding what they considered to be the right one, they asked if we could go to Spokane, Washington, United States of America, on a shopping trip.

It was the beginning of spring break; most snow had melted off the roads we would travel during the four-and-a-half-hour drive to Spokane.

Always up for an adventure, I said we could go.

We booked a hotel, and with a prayer for safety, we headed off. We shopped and ate out, and the girls’ mission was accomplished by two o’clock the next afternoon! My daughter asked if she could drive home. The day was beautiful.

We asked God to travel with us and were on our way.

About eighty kilometers (fifty miles) from home, she pulled over in the town of Beaverdell, British Columbia, Canada, for gas.

She handed me the car keys and asked me to drive the rest of the way. As we started on our last stretch, the sky quickly clouded over.

We were suddenly buffeted by a strong wind and engulfed in a blanket of fog and blowing snow. Suddenly, a large tree branch was coming directly toward the car. Just as quickly, the tree disappeared and came down with a crunch on the back end of our Subaru wagon. I slowly pulled off to the side of the road to survey the rest of the damage. The girls, though shaken, were uninjured. The windshield was broken.

The passenger side headlight was out, and that side of the hood was buckled up under the windshield. The sides of the car were not even scraped, but the back end showed that something heavy had hit and glanced off the roof —yet the rear window and taillights were still intact. Not far behind where we had stopped, a large tree now lay across the highway. The wind was still blowing, swirling the snow, and with no cell coverage, we proceeded on home. This incident has come to mind many times since, particularly when driving on mountainous roads. I am so thankful for our heavenly Father’s constant, watchful care. When we trust Him and ask for His companionship, He will “give His angels charge over [us] to keep [us] in all [our] ways” (Psalm 91:11, NKJV).

Beverly D. Hazzard