One Saturday afternoon my wife, sister, and I were driving south on Interstate 55 when something out of the ordinary happened. My wife and sister had closed their eyes for a short nap, and I was listening to Christian music on the radio.
Over my many years of life I have come to expect the unexpected but what I saw next was horrifying to say the least. Suddenly, a truck in the north-bound lane broke through a concrete railing on the bridge and went flying upward. I watched as the truck came down and made a big splash in the river below, even though I couldn't see the river itself. Immediately, I wondered what can I do to help this person that just went into the river?
We crossed the river in the southbound lane and stopped. I hurried back to the median between the bridges to help in anyway possible. A chain link fence was there to keep people from going down the hill to the river, however someone had been through it before, and I was able to get to the bank of the river. We had had so much rain in the previous days that the river was overflowing.
Another man had gotten out of his car and went down the hill behind me and neither of us could see the truck. I am not sure what either one of us could have done had we seen it, because the current was so strong and I don’t know that I could have gotten in the river to be any help. However, I probably would have tried, and he would have too, if we could have seen the truck.
I was talking to the Lord asking Him for guidance on what to do. I was praying for the people in the truck, even though I didn’t know who or how many people were in there. I felt hopeless at this time because I couldn't do anything. We didn’t see the truck and we weren’t sure where it was. It could have been washed down stream.
The highway patrol was on the scene first, then the local police, sheriff, and fire department came. All of us were searching to spot the truck to no avail. Everyone was in a state of helplessness.
Many of us are going to experience times such as the one I have just described. It may not be a car wreck, but it could be some experience in our life that makes it seem there is no hope for us. We may suffer depression due to the situation knowing that we have no earthly idea what to do.
We allow our lives to be consumed with things that we have no control over. It could be personal matters with friends, relatives, or others. It could be about money or health-related conditions. Most of the time we worry about things that we have no control over and everything that we do seems hopeless.
I know that I felt hopeless when I was on that river bank and I couldn’t do anything to help the people in that truck. I began praying and asking the Lord for guidance. I asked Him to be with whoever was in the truck, knowing that they were probably in His presence at that time.
Prayer got me through this situation and gave me peace that I did all I could do. Prayer got my wife through the situation because she was praying that I wouldn’t go in the river knowing that I wouldn’t have been able to stand the cold water and the current, even though she wanted me to help in any way I could.
Prayer is the answer to all our problems. If we will talk to the Lord daily and seek His guidance our problems won’t seem as big as we think they are.
The truck in the wreck was found the next day in the middle of the river with one person inside. No one likes to lose anyone; I am glad it wasn’t a family though.
