I love 3 day weekends.

Jilli and I went to Dallas this past weekend for some good shopping. On the way home, late saturday night, we took bets on our time of arrival. (The loser had to feed the fish..big risk). Turns out both of us were wrong, we didn't count on arriving at the scene of an accident.

We could hardly see the large tree branches covering both lanes of the dark country road. But as an suv turned around on the other side of the road we noticed the branches as well as a security car that had run head on into a tree. The suv disappeared down the road. But the security car's lights were off and we weren't sure whether it had been there for awhile or whether the accident had just happened. Within seconds, another man came walking across the road from his home. He said that he had heard the accident 15 minutes before. He asked for our cell phone and dialed 911. He looked into the security car and confirmed that, yes, there was someone inside. Jilli and I got out of the car, climbed over the wall of fallen branches, and made our way to the car. I didn't dare look inside. All I could do was just pray under my breath and wait for the emergency vehicles to arrive. We were told by the dispatcher not to take anyone out. In the two minutes that we waited two more cars almost ran into the barricade of trees. We made the second one back up and put on their hazards to prevent any further accidents.

We helped the policemen clear some of the branches. As we did, the firemen pulled the security guard from his car. From where I stood about fifty feet away I couldn't tell if the man was still alive or not. He was large and stereotypical looking for his profession. His face was the whitest I have ever seen. I just stood there and thought about how silent everything had been since our arrival. The firemen performed cpr, hooked him up to a machine, but after a couple of minutes walked away to take care of other business. A simple no from the police officer confirmed what I already had guessed. The security guard did not survive his early morning accident.

If we had arrived any earlier, it could have been us. It was the suv and the reflection of the security car that warned us to stop in front of the fallen trees. Earlier in the evening, Jilli and I had already been talking about God working all things together for our good. We had gotten lost for an hour in Dallas before we came home. We had stopped quite a few times for bathroom breaks along highway 75. At the last stop I went in alone to buy a Frappucino and some Reisons. The woman at the counter asked me to stay a couple of extra minutes to find out if her credit card machine was up and running again. I agreed. After getting back into the car I joked with Jilli that we had stopped for a "reason" (ie..the candy). Little did we know that God really was ordering our steps all the way home.

It's funny...every day we make choices that seem to make little difference. It's easy to forget that the seemingly insignificant choices and moments may be keeping us from or leading us toward more significant moments. It's easy to forget that God is sovereign. He is always protecting us, always ordering our lives.

I will end my long monday morning entry with this thought...Yesterday at church, my pastor shared this word..."You may feel as if your life is scattered, but know this, God is strategically placing you in the place that you need to be." Words of life that I needed to hear. Words to sum up the events of this past weekend. It is good to be reminded that every moment of every day He is working on our behalf.