This is how my Wednesday night ended, and my Thursday morning began. I came across a car accident on my way home from work and stopped to help. The driver had drifted left and struck a barrier, which demolished the left front of her car, but everything crumpled how it was supposed to. No one was injured, and it was a single vehicle, but the car’s hazards didn’t work (owing to the battery compartment being demolished) and her phone was lost inside the car, so she was stuck.
I was in the right place at the right time to help somebody, something that happens to me a lot. What doesn’t happen a lot is being able to see the whole chain of events, start to finish, that put me in that right place and time.
Earlier in the week, my friend Chris had passed off a couple of his bicycles to me. They’d been damaged in a move, and he wanted me to look at them and see if they could be fixed. I decided they could be (but not by me), and so on Wednesday morning, I wore civvies on the way to work so I could drop the bikes off at my local bike shop. Because I wore civvies to work, when a few people asked if I wanted to stop for a beer on the way home, I was able to say yes. Because I was able to say yes, I went home via the South route instead of my normal North route, because the former swung past the bar.
And because I went home the South route, and an hour later than I otherwise would have, I came across the accident just minutes after it happened, and was able to call the police, put out flares and comfort the driver while we waited. I called Katie too, and she brought us warmer clothing and water, and helped out a ton.
On the rare occasion that we are able to witness the beginning, middle and end of a story like this, it convinces me all the more of the wisdom and power of Providence.