You may know that I take a daily walk that takes me about an hour to complete. It’s a great idea for everyone to do this, but in addition to it being a generally healthy thing to do, it is imperative for me to keep my damaged heart as healthy as possible for as long as possible. So I usually walk 6 or even 7 days a week.
And sometimes it’s an adventure.
Today, I knew there was a slight chance of rain and I could see some dark clouds to the north which is often the direction from which we’ll see rain, so when I was finally able to get started, I was wondering if I’d make the entire loop before getting rained on. It turns out the rain never materialized, but about halfway through the walk, a windstorm developed. And unusual things began to happen.
As I approached a large construction site, I noticed the wind was kicking up a lot of dirt and debris from the site, so I decided I would step off the sidewalk and venture briefly into the 4 lane street just to maybe be safer from flying debris that might show up from the multi-story building that is still being built. Just as I reached the corner of the worksite and was about to step around a parked car, a large temporary electrical panel dropped from about 20 feet over my head and landed right in front of me. BOOM! A second or two later and I probably would have been killed.
I kept walking and kept my eyes up looking for anything else that might fly at me.
A block later, I was crossing an intersection that has a sizeable speed bump to slow the oncoming traffic down. Almost every time I walk past it a vehicle will hit that “tope” a little too fast and squeal their tires a little or bottom out on the other side of it. Today, just as I was almost to that speed bump, an old VW Caribe (think VW Rabbit) came flying down the street which has a 40 km/h speed limit, and hit that speed bump at probably 50 to 60 km/h. He lost control as the car went airborne. It landed right next to me! He was going so fast, he regained control after a couple bounces and kept going. A foot or two over and I probably would have been killed.
As I thankfully rounded the neighborhood hill and crossed the last busy intersection just a few blocks from home, I was walking around the construction site of a corner convenience store. They put up a temporary fence around their property recently leaving only about 2 feet to walk between that and the street. The wind was still blowing hard and a gust of wind pushed that temporary fence right at my head. So, I ducked and took a step to my right. This put me right on the edge of the lane of traffic that I now couldn’t see. The traffic next to me had a red light, but at that instant a large pickup truck came flying by in the right turn lane to run the red light at high speed and just missed me by inches. I couldn’t even see it because of the fencing which was covered in a black privacy plastic and had leaned completely over into me. Less than a foot closer and that truck would have turned ME into a speed bump. I probably would have been killed.
And I was just out trying to get some exercise and keep my heart healthy. It turned out to be a tightrope walk over death. Yet, I made it home untouched and unharmed. The Lord orders our steps, doesn’t he?
Psalm 121
I look up toward the hills. From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth.
3 May he not allow your foot to slip. May your Protector not sleep
4 Look! Israel’s Protector does not sleep or slumber.
5 The Lord is your protector; the Lord is the shade at your right hand.
6 The sun will not harm you by day, or the moon by night.
7 The Lord will protect you from all harm; he will protect your life.
8 The Lord will protect you in all you do, now and forevermore.
