Psalm 33:19, 20 “To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield.”
In May of 2002, my family and I were in Arkansas for some weekend evangelistic meetings. On Sunday, we headed back home to Dallas, Texas. My wife and I packed our things into the car, called the children, and left the Hindsville church were we had been staying.
While still on the narrow, meandering road leaving the church, an unusual sense of fatigue swept over me. I felt strangely overburdened mentally as well as physically, and I couldn’t understand why. I had slept very well that night. My thoughts then turned to my family. They had been accompanying me on my trips for over a few months now, and we hadn’t taken any family time. If I was tired, I thought, they probably were too. I decided to take that Sunday to spend time with my family, doing something they would enjoy.
Our church in Hindsville, Arkansas, is located in a touristic area, yet between starting new groups in Dallas and Houston and visiting Arkansas, my family and I had never been able to explore the beauty of the surrounding landscape. This would be the perfect opportunity to do so.
We spent about four hours visiting War Eagle Mills, the War Eagle River and other beautiful places nearby enjoying time together and the beautiful, sunny day. Soon, I felt better and reinvigorated. We were ready to continue our trip to Texas.
After traveling for a few hours, we reached the state of Oklahoma, and the traffic on I-40 stopped. We finally caught up with the place where policemen were directing the traffic to alternative routes, and we eventually arrived at home safe and sound.
Upon our arrival, we checked our voicemail to find that several members from our church had called us and left messages trying to reach us to know if we were all right. I checked online and found out what had taken place on I-40.
On that Sunday morning, the captain of the tugboat Robert Y. Love fainted and the boat continued adrift until it hit a pillar that supported a bridge and caused a large piece of the bridge to plunge down into the river. This in turn caused cars, trucks, and tractor-trailers to drive unsuspectingly off the broken bridge and into a watery sepulcher. Fourteen people died that day, and others were severely injured.
The bridge was part of our trajectory. That bridge is where we would have been that morning if it hadn’t been for Providence. Lives were lost that day, but our merciful heavenly Father once again had spared our lives.
May our Father’s providence always be a reality in your life. May He accompany you this day and in all the moments of your life.