Prayer

Last night on the way home from our extra irreverent Family Home Evening with the whole fam, my youngest sister called and told me she and her husband had a flat tire on the freeway. I was just a couple minutes behind them. Scary to have any type of car trouble on the freeway, not to mention having to change a flat tire on the side of the car with the rushing traffic. I stopped my van behind them (the husband being in San Diego), lights flashing, so that I could be the buffer.

Youngest sister jumped into my car and we expressed to each other our thoughts on being stopped at the side of a busy freeway. We were in agreement, neither of us liked this position. We offered a prayer of safety. It calmed us.

This experience took me back to a year and a half ago when I was Young Women President and we were returning on the freeway from a joint activity. I had a carload of girls 12-14. (I love those girls.) All at once traffic on the freeway came to a crawl and almost immediately we saw smoke. There was a car in the middle lane pretty banged up and sideways and then we saw a car against the concrete barrier of the HOV lane that was in flames. It was frightening. People were trying to break windows to get the passengers out. As we drove by, I could feel the heat from the burning car and witnessed the driver of the car who was on fire. It was the worst scene I had ever experienced. And of course, all the girls saw it, too.

Some of the girls started into some mild hysteria. I could sense that it would be something that would traumatize them for a long time. I had the instant impression that we needed to say a prayer. A prayer was offered. There was a palpable spirit of peace in my van that night. The girls were able to process the scene and we worked through it on the 30 minute drive home.

Prayers are heard and answered. I know they are.

I learned later that the accident was caused by the banged up car in the middle lane who had run into a car that was pulled over to the side of the road with a flat tire. The impact of the crash sent the car across 5 lanes of traffic and into the concrete barrier where it burst into flames. Both passengers in the car died.

We were blessed last night. Safe at the side of the freeway while youngest bro-in-law changed that tire. Since they are newlyweds and without children, I was able to provide the wipes for youngest bro-in-law's hands. No need to offer a hero's medal. It was the least I could do. Go me. It' nice to feel useful.

And of course, photos were taken- for youngest sister's blog- and then the injured tire, the black microwave (?) and cases of bottled water were loaded back into their trunk and we drove off. They with their doughnut tire and I in the buffer van.



******Sorry Dad, no blog post about the diaper. Maybe another time...