Runaway 18-Wheeler, at Midnight
(by Eddie)
***
As I mentioned in the story above, sometimes we are not even aware of our needs, but if we ask for God to watch over us He will do it.
I had worked hard all day and was driving at night from Merced to Riverside, CA when I started dozing at the wheel. When I got to Bakersfield things were busy enough that I had no problem staying awake, but after I got through Bakersfield and away from town I started dozing again.
I knew there was a large rest area about halfway up the mountain about thirty or forty minutes ahead. I managed to make it safely to the rest area and decided the safest place was at the lower end at the outer edge of the parking area. So as soon as I was parked, I crawled in my sleeping bag (on the bed I had built in the rear seat area) and was soon sound asleep.
It wasn't long before I was suddenly awakened by a sliding, crashing noise beside me. I jumped up and looked out the window just in time to see the cab of a truck go by me sideways missing me by only a few inches. What a strange thing and what a strange feeling of unbelief swept over me to see this huge tractor cab come by only a few inches at most from me as I looked out my window. I didn’t even see a driver in the truck. After the crash, I jumped up, put on my shoes, and went out to investigate.
By the time I got out to the truck there were a man and a woman getting out of the cab. My first concern was are they alright? Since they were not seriously hurt, my next question was, “What on earth happened?” This was a divided highway with a wide median. How could this truck get to where it was?
The man explained that they had come into the rest area after I was asleep and had pulled up to the upper end of the parking area, parked, set the brakes and lay down to sleep. He had awakened suddenly to realize the brakes had failed and they were going fast down the mountain backward. He jumped up grabbed the wheel and intentionally jackknifed the tractor-trailer. That directed the rear of the trailer away from me and into the high hurricane fence which divided the highway traffic from the parking area. The fence had stopped the back of the trailer forcing the cab past me sideways. So when the cab finally came to a halt, it was headed down hill. In stopping the back of the trailer, a large section of the fence was ripped up and part of the load from the truck was dumped.
God was on duty while I slept and He’ll be on duty while you sleep too, if you ask Him.
“...he that keepeth thee will not slumber.” Psalms 121:3
