Okay, so I reckon that's a rather comical title for a blog post, considering blogging is basically about words, but if you knew how my day started you would understand and I suppose, if you choose to read on, you will!
It was about 6:20 a.m. when the door flew open and I heard my mother's frantic voice call my name. Now, I cannot say I was in a deep sleep, but I wasn't awake by any means either, still, I had the presence of mind to think the situation through.
Okay, mom told me she was going into work early because she was leaving work early and she needed to make up the tyme. Did she forget something? Why does she sound so frazzled?
These were the thoughts and questions I had flowing through my sleepy mind. Now, understand that this process of thought occurred in mere seconds as I jumped out of bed and raced to the door only to see my mother standing in the kitchen soaking wet and tracking mud and sediment everywhere she stepped. Then, the words I heard her say seemed as foreign to me as a the word no to a two-year old child and even as she said them they hung in the air like the words of a comic strip character.
"My car is in Silver Lake!"
As I said in my title, I had no words to offer in return to her frantic statement, all I could do was hug her and try to formulate my thoughts. Thinking back now I seem to recall my initial reply, after a moment's thought, to be something like...
"At the bottom?"
It seems laughable now, but at the tyme I had no idea what was going on and had no subsequent information to decipher the situation. As the moments passed and the story unfolded in bits and pieces I could not believe the true grace of God that happened in Dayton, Virginia this morning.
Days ago we had torrential downpours that flooded many places throughout ours and the surrounding counties. The past few days have proven helpful for nature to get its ducks back in a row, if you will, and the water, in most places, back where it belongs; most being the operative word.
My mother's route to work is something of a straight shot, ironically, if you know about the few twists and turns. It ambles along some beautiful country side, across one of Harrisonburg's major roadways and again offers a wide open view of some of the Shenandoah Valley's stunning qualities. If traveling this route you would then notice that a town was coming into view and, with a few sharp and few slight turns here and there you would come to a large lake on your right hand side. It is here we have proof that God spent part of His morning!
It seems that along the last curve, just before the lake comes into view some of that water from days ago had yet to find its way back into the atmosphere and, with the cold overnight temperatures, froze solid across the road. It was this that my mother encountered at 5:45 this morning and it was this that sent her spinning out of control, landing her car backwards in the lake.
As her car slid back in the water, the trunk covered and the water crept up to her window. Then, the motion ceased as her tires sunk in the deep sediment at the edge of the lake, a blessing beyond compare as it stopped the car from going completely under the water. Stuck and frantic, my mother accounts that it was only her desperate prayers to the Lord that let her force the door open through the mud and sediment and ultimately walk out of the lake without injury.
With mom clean and dry we went back to the scene to find the tow truck, Dayton police, state police, fire and rescue personnel there doing their duties to help the situation. As I watch the tow truck pull the car out of the lake I couldn't help but be grateful. A few more feet and today would have turned out very differently.
The rest of the day was spent dealing with the insurance company [and I have to say that like a good neighbor, StateFarm was there], the rental car place and the towing company, all highly satisfactory in their service.
As I dropped off some coffee, toe warmers and long johns at my mom's shop [yes, she insisted on going in to work] I realized that today was just another lesson in my current leap of faith. As I listened to my mom account the story over and over to the many friends and family that called to check on her, I knew that God was telling me yet again that He is the reason we are here and nothing is worth anything if we cannot honestly say we are doing it for Him.
Thank you Lord for the blessings of today!
~LK~
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