The child on the freeway

It was just a couple of weeks before Christmas in southern California a number of years back. A friend of mine, then assistant pastor in a large local church, shared with me this true story that happened in his own family. His wife and her sister had been Christmas shopping and were speeding along the freeway on their way home. It was a cold, blustery night, dark and rainy. His wife and her sister were busily chatting in the front seat of the car. My friend's three-year-old daughter was in the backseat by herself.

Suddenly the two adults were aware of a strange, unnatural, and horrifying set of sounds as they heard the back door of the car open, the whistle of wind, and a sickening muffled sound. Quickly they turned and saw the child had fallen out of the car and was tumbling along the freeway.

Panic! The mother slammed on the brakes and pulled the car to a wrenching stop, jumped out and ran full speed back toward the child. When they arrived at her motionless body, they noticed something strange. All of the traffic was stopped, lined up like a parking lot just behind her body. The child had not been hit by a car. In fact, the car that would have hit her was stopped just a few feet short of her prone form. Wonder number one.

A truck driver jumped down out of his cab and was bending over the girl as they arrived at the scene. He said, "She's still alive. Let's get her to a hospital quickly. There's one nearby." He picked up the child, they all got into his large truck, and sped off to a nearby hospital. The child was unconscious but still breathing. Wonder number two.

When they arrived at the hospital, they rushed into the emergency room and the doctors immediately began to check her vital signs. The room was hushed. Finally the doctor spoke. "Well, other than the fact that she is unconscious and scraped, she appears to be in good shape. I don't see any broken bones. Her blood pressure is good. Her heart is fine. So far, so good." No apparent gross damage. She was only bruised and skinned from her vicious tumble along the freeway. Wonder number three.

The mother bent over her child. Her eyes were full of tears and her heart was filled with gratitude for such a miracle. Suddenly, without warning, the child's eyes opened, she looked up at her mother and said, "Mommy, you know, I wasn't afraid." Startled, the mother said, "Oh, what do you mean?"

"Well," she said, "while I was lying on the road waiting for you to get back to me--I wasn't afraid, because I looked up, and right there I saw Jesus holding back the traffic with his arms outstretched."

Wonder after wonder--and every wonder true.

James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited pp. 249-250.

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