I remember some of the Almighty’s mercies, where he spared my life before I knew his son Jesus Christ.
Once during College time, I was driving with a friend to a mutual friend’s house. I had not gone that way before, and it was night with a sprinkling of salt residue left on the roads after some snow. There were not many cars on the road. As we were nearing a bend in the road, I saw the speed recommended for the turn: 25mph. My friend urged me to slow down, since I was going around 50mph. I slowed down, and the turn did not turn out to be too bad. I chided my friend for getting worked up about nothing. A very few minutes later, we saw signs for another turn with the recommended speed of 25 MPH. My friend again asked me to slow down. But, this time, I did not listen to him. Then, as we got closer to the turn, he started praying, which quickly changed to him crying for his mother. I thought he was trying to make a joke. Then the turn came.
It looked like a 90 degree left turn. This was a two-lane road, and I noticed that there were trees to the right side of the road. At that moment, time slowed down for me. It felt like I had a minute to make one second’s worth of actions. I realized I had to turn left, and I turned the wheel, and somehow the car turned, and kept on turning. We crossed over the opposite lane, and went off the road. There was a shoulder on the left of the road, with trees bordering it. My next action was to straighten out the car, to avoid the trees past the shoulder. The car straightened out running parallel to the road. Next, I noticed some obstruction like a stream, blocking the shoulder ahead. I turned the car back towards the road, and there the car skidded sideways to a stop. My friend was badly shaken. I felt completely calm and at ease.
One other time, also during college, I went camping with two other friends to Pocahontas State Park in Richmond, VA. It was a hot and humid August (temperature in 90’s well past midnight), and we had tried to cut costs where we (thought) we could. For example, we bought the smallest size of water bottles we could find, reasoning, that parks have water fountains, where we could get refills. All three of us had brought bikes, and we went biking around the park looking for a trail. We found a narrow trail going into the woods, and we decided to try it. The trail kept on going and going. There were numerous dips where we dis-mounted, and walked. It did not take long for our tiny water bottles to run out. We started feeling exhausted, but kept going, thinking, that it would be faster to finish this trail, rather than turn back.
Some time later, both my friends complained about a fly that would chase them, if they stopped for too long. Time passed. We biked and got more and more tired. I was contemplating just sitting down, and waiting for someone to come find us. Thankfully, as we kept on going, the trail ended. Then, we saw the trail information sign and learned that we had just done an Expert Rated Trail backwards. After our camping trip ended, I tried to find a bike trail near to home. I found that Fountainhead Regional Park had a bike trail with a Medium Rating. I went to try it out. As I started the trail, it started going downhill, and I picked up speed. But, my confidence level was so bolstered after having done an Expert trail, that I did not slow down. As I came around a turn, there was a small wooden bridge with a tiny stream running below it. I knew I would not make the bridge. I do not know what happened next. But, the next thing I remember is standing on the other side of the stream, next to the trail, with my bike in my hand. Both me and my bike were un-damaged and dry.