This time of year offers me plenty of time to think while weeding my gardens. I hate to use the word “weeds” because every plant has its usefulness. So when I say weeds, I don’t mean they aren’t helpful; they merely aren’t valuable to me. Often, I use the time to solve problems, or I’ll remember doing something with my mom in her gardens. Sometimes, I try to figure out why some inexplicable thing happened. I believe those types of situations, like weeds, have a purposefulness; I just don’t immediately, if ever, know what that is.

Such was my pondering this morning. A few weeks ago, I was exiting a local hardware store’s driveway. It opens onto a busy four-lane highway. I’m super cautious entering traffic because this habit saved my life a few years ago when a dump truck ran a red light. This particular day, I looked right, looked left, looked right, and looked left again. The highway was clear, so I stepped on the accelerator and turned right to the east as I pulled into my lane. Suddenly, I realized I was face to face with a black, older model car, stopped in my lane, facing west, towards oncoming traffic. It had pulled out from the next driveway, barely more than a car length away. I was instantly considerably shaken and confused. Why was there a car facing me? In probably only seconds, I rapidly went through what I had done and confirmed I had done everything right. Now, what was the remedy? I was filling for a car sandwich.

I looked into the car facing me and saw the driver’s face framed with stringy, long blond hair. He exhibited no sign of recognition that anything was amiss. I looked in my rearview mirror and saw a pack of cars coming towards us. I heard tires screeching, and off the rear corner of my car, a black Expedition moved out around me into the left lane just as the driver I was facing moved to his right and into the oncoming traffic. As I watched what happened next, I realized I witnessed a miracle. Instead of crashing, the black car appeared to have gone through the black Expedition.

I can’t prove to you that anything but divine intervention had stopped my car. I didn’t hit the brake because there was no time, and I was in the act of accelerating. My car is equipped with Eyesight that causes automatic braking and stopping to avoid collisions, but there’s always a jerk to the car as it engages, and that didn’t happen.

I continued, and I remember thinking how weird it was that there was no accident and that we all continued down the highway as though nothing had happened. The situation defied a rational, earthly explanation.

I recount my story because I know that someone reading this has had an experience that remains unexplained by any rational means, yet they were there and know it happened. I’ve got your back.