Black Ice On Donner Pass

It was 1965.

Our family's belongings had finally arrived by ship in Seattle after being sent from Burma.

Dad was still in Burma.

The political situation had become increasingly uncertain, and he stayed behind while Mom brought the five of us to America.

We were living in a small two-bedroom apartment in Boise, Idaho.

Everything we owned was waiting in Seattle.

So my mother climbed into our Volkswagen bus with my two younger sisters and made the long drive to the port.

She loaded the bus with the possessions that represented our family's new beginning.

Then she started the long drive home.

Somewhere after Donner Pass, she came to a bridge spanning a deep canyon.

The weather had turned cold.

The bridge was covered with black ice.

You couldn't see it.

It looked perfectly safe.

The moment the tires touched the ice...

The bus lost all traction.

It spun once.

Twice.

Three times.

Completely out of control.

Then it slammed into the guardrail.

The impact was so violent that it crashed through the barrier and broke through the concrete wall protecting the bridge.

The Volkswagen came to rest with part of the bus hanging over the edge of the canyon.

Can you imagine what my mother must have been thinking?

Two little girls sitting behind her.

No husband.

Everything the family owned packed inside that little bus.

And now...

Silence.

Then God sent help.

Two semi-trucks stopped.

The drivers quickly assessed the situation.

They found ropes and heavy straps.

Carefully they secured the Volkswagen to their trucks.

Slowly...

Patiently...

They pulled the bus back onto solid ground.

Only after it was safely on the shoulder did everyone breathe again.

I've thought about that story many times over the years.

There are moments in life when you don't even realize how close you've come to tragedy.

There are times when the road looks perfectly safe...

Until suddenly you find yourself spinning completely out of control.

And sometimes the only reason you're standing here today...

Is because God had already arranged for someone to be there when you needed them.

Looking back, I don't just see a bridge in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

I see the quiet providence of God.

Watching over a young mother.

Protecting two little girls.

Preserving a family.

And reminding me that even when life feels out of control...

God never is.