Drivers-Stories-2

		TRIBUTES

Article by Diane Howe, July 2006

Reprinted from “Highway News and Good News” a monthly magazine published by Transport For Christ. http://www.transportforchrist.org/

Delivered from Disaster
On every trip I take, I plead the blood of Jesus over myself, my dog, my truck, and my trailer. I claim Psalm 91 as my own -- I ask God to send His angels out ahead of me and prepare my way and I ask that He encamp angels all around me and my truck to protect us. I also claim deliverance from destruction. "If you make the Most High your dwelling even the LORD, who is my refuge - then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone" (Psalm 91:9-12).

I'm going to be honest and admit that sometimes when I pray the same prayer it gets to be routine and I don't always think about what I pray. Well, a day came when the Lord let me know just how important my prayers were to me and my loved ones.

I went to Buffalo, New York, to pick up a load at a flour warehouse that sits behind about eight sets of railroad tracks. When I arrived at about 2 p.m., there was nowhere to park but on the tracks. Needless to say, I didn't like the idea. I quickly went inside and got my papers. About nine drivers waited ahead of me. I told the shipper that I didn't care to be sitting on the tracks. He laughed at me and said there would be no more trains until about 2 a.m. Back in my truck, I couldn't sleep. When the truck beside me went to the dock, I hurried and got in his place beside the tracks.

I thought my worries were over. Little did I know that the worst was yet to come.

I lay down until my truck was loaded at about 5:30 p.m. Because of my logbook, I couldn't leave for several hours, so I asked if I could stay on the lot. Because they didn't have enough room, I was told it was okay to move out and park on the street. So I pulled up, shut my doors, put my seal on, and started across the tracks. The first six tracks were clear -- I could see both ways. Where I was crossing, the streetlights were on the other side of the tracks and there was nothing at the crossing to let me know if anything was coming. The last two tracks were on a curve. As I crossed them, I had to keep my eye on two iron posts so my trailer wouldn't hit them. I glanced both ways on the tracks, looked back in my mirror to make sure I was missing the posts, and looked forward again to proceed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a big gray thing coming into the side of my truck right at the passenger window.

I screamed. I tried to put it in reverse, but couldn't. I saw a flash of gray at my passenger window as the train hit and began pushing me down the tracks. The crash busted my steering tire on the driver's side, so the truck leaned to the side. I threw open the door and jumped out with my dog.

The train had not been running fast, and it was backing up when it hit me. I had a little trouble catching my breath, but with every breath I did take, I thanked God for protecting me!

Some of the witnesses said it looked like the truck was going to turn over on me when I was jumping out. My sister Carolyn said, "I bet it was something to envision God's angels holding that train back to keep you from being hurt."

The wrecker driver told me it would be a lot cheaper for my company if I would just back off of the tracks. He said it would ruin my rim, but that would be better than being towed. Therefore, I had to get back in my truck and back off the tracks! Every time I started to move, fear gripped me, and I froze. Then the Lord spoke to me and said, "Fear not for I am with you." I repeated that over and over, and as I did the fear left. I was able to back off the tracks.

As I settled in for bed that night across from another set of railroad tracks, I got my Bible out and turned to Psalm 91. When I read Psalm 91 that time it had a whole new meaning. I clung to every word and I praised God for His promises of protection and for letting me know them and to speak them. Though I woke up a few times when trains went by, I was always able to go right back to sleep. For you see, God not only protected me, but He also delivered me from my fear of trains and railroad tracks. I guess that's why I got to sleep that close to the tracks -- so God could show me that the fear was truly gone.

For awhile after I was home, every time I saw one of my brothers or sisters, my sons or daughter, or my husband, I would cry like a baby and thank God all over again for His love and protection and most of all for the promises that He has given us. We all need to seek out God's promises and be able to stand on them, because we never know when one of those promises is going to save us.

I give God all the praise and glory for this and thank Him for everything He is doing in my life -- for what He has already done and for what He is going to do.