Here at our congregation, Larry Pierce has often shared about his auto accident that brought him back to Jesus. He had been a Christian years ago but had wandered away and lived his life without God.
Then one day, he was driving a pick up truck down a road in Kentucky. He was towing another truck behind him. He came to a section of road that was had a steep 8 % grade (really steep). He wasn’t troubled by it… until his brakes went out. He ended up going down a weaving Kentucky road at speeds of at least 70 mph. Then the trees parted to show that his road was going to “T” with another highway… and on that other road there was another car traveling on an intersect course with him.
“Oh dear Lord,” he prayed. “Don’t let me kill them.”
And he did miss that car. But his vehicle launched across that other highway and barreled into a tree on the other side. He says he didn’t remember anything until he woke inside his truck. The dash was crushed up against the seat and the steering column was driven into the place where he had been seat belted in just moments before. His body was scrunched up against the driver’s side door in a section that was hardly big enough for him to breath.
He still has pictures of the crumpled truck… and he knows full well there was no way he should have walked away from that crash. Only God could have saved him in such a dramatic fashion. When he got out the hospital, he called Jim (one of our Elders) and asked what time church was. And on one of the worst Sundays of that winter, Larry came hobbling into church on his crutches, and he’s been here ever since.
From Jeff Strite’s Sermon: It Was Grace that Taught My Heart to Fear