Joshua 1:9

The Cadet Chapel at West Point...our church while we were stationed there.

    

A few years ago John was given the amazing opportunity to go back to his Alma Mater and teach Systems Engineering.  I cannot even tell you how excited we were to pack up and make West Point our home for 3 years...it was like coming around full circle and being able to give back to the place that had really shaped 4 years of your life.  Plus, West Point is just alive with hope and energy and smart, cute (oops...did I say that out loud??) cadets!  John was honored to be given the chance to go to graduate school at the University of Virginia and then head up to West Point to be an instructor....I was honored to tag along with all 4 kids!

An actual MP car that still "lives" at West Point but is not used for ANY police work.  Still...it reflects a "Mayberry" atmosphere of the entire community.

     West Point, understandably, has a very low crime rate and it was like Mayberry.  Seriously...it doesn't get much better than this in the army...except if you are an MP...Military Police.  Have you ever been in a position where you didn't WANT something to happen...but, man-oh-man...something happening would be better than spending your days bored.  Our MPs were very professional but I think they spent a large portion of their time driving down to the Post Exchange when teens were caught shoplifting (naughty naughty teens!) and pulling over Mommies in Mini-vans.  One day...I happened to be that Mommy.  I am a self-proclaimed rule follower and being pulled over was going to do TWO things.....1)  Break my record of never having being issued a speeding ticket and 2) Freak out the MP pulling me over because I am a CHRONIC crier...babbler when I am nervous and upset.  It's epic.
     Speeding....lights....pulling over...I commence crying and babbling to myself....MP approaches van window and I hand him my license...and I cry like I have been shot.  Babble babble babble....cry cry cry....

"Ma'am...do you have proof of insurance?
"What?  Umm...I don't know...hold on."

(Picture this...I open the glove compartment and lose it...I throw papers everywhere and cry and wipe my eyes...then my nose...then I talk more to myself and vow to fuss at John because somehow this must be HIS fault...and I find the papers and now act as though I have won the NY STATE LOTTERY.)

"Thank you, Ma'am...but do you happen to also have the stickers for your plate..."
"THE WHAT???"
"The stickers for your plates that show you are registered and insured properly?"
"OH MY GOSH NO! My husband got those and never put them on the van and that just drives me crazy because it's his job really and I have no idea where they are and I don't know what to do because he never does anything right away and I am left to search for the stuff and now what do I do?" (deep breath so I can cry some more)

"Ma'am...I am required by law to arrest you and take you in."

"Are you JOKING?"

"No, ma'am I am not joking."

"I have never even been issued a speeding ticket and you are going to arrest me and TAKE ME IN? "

(Now...the crying has ceased on cue.   I have now started to freak out on a much deeper level...a dark deep and the mother of all melt down levels....there may have even been curse words in my brain.  I am not confirming NOR denying such things.  But, just know there may or may not have been a few naughty words in my head.)

I find my "Mommy" voice and I say,  "Sir, you have no idea what my life is like.  I am a tired mother of 4 and my husband, even though he is wonderful, forgot to put my stickers on my car.  You can not arrest me.  My mother-in-law is coming in town today and THAT, SIR is stress enough and....."

I started crying, dang it.  Like REALLY CRYING....no intelligible words came out after that.  My mother-in-law was coming for heaven's sake!

Then the MP (who I have now decided was only about 8 years old....) said, "Ma'am you are starting to scare me."

That's right, buddy. That Mommy voice is frightening for a reason...I hate pulling it out on strangers.

Then, he walked back to his patrol car, sat still for a few minutes...came back to my car and said, "GO HOME.  GO HOME AND FIND YOUR STICKERS.  Goodbye"

Oh, holy mother of all that is good and holy and warm and cuddly.  I drove home and I cried and I called John and I found my stickers and I vowed from that day on to stop expecting poor John to take care of me like a princess...

Please......fast forward to DECEMBER 17, 2004.  Just 3 weeks later.

John had received a bunch of gift cards for his birthday and we decided to drive from West Point....over to Harriman (AKA "civilization") and use one of these gift cards to go eat at Chilis.  Bundle up the kids...head over the mountain....settle into and booth and it started to snow.  REALLY SNOW....huge beautiful white flakes that floated like feathers on the air and we watched and we ate and we talked about how wonderful Christmas is....and just got the Christmas joy all tucked into our souls.  As we headed to the parking lot...we were slipping everyhwhere.  Holy cow...beautiful and slippery, for heaven's sake!  Then we began our 20 minute drive home....very slowly.

It was so quiet in the van until Jack (now 4 years old) tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Hi, Mommy!  I got out of my seat."....I was mortified because this was becoming a habit and here we were on slippery snow driving over these steep hills.....Walls of granite cliffs on our right and a guard rail protecting us from a 200 foot drop on the left. NOT the time for 4 year old to be Houdini.  So, because I am supermom and always have the right thing to say...I said, "Get back in your car seat right now, Jack! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO THIS????"....I pulled off my own seat belt, swatted his legs...buckled him back in...told him to stop crying...sat back down and buckled up."

What happened next is truly a miracle.

"Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas" was on the radio and John was driving about 15 miles an hour on a road we normally took at 65mph.  We were crawling...when all of a sudden the van became like a toy car.  It turned completely to the right (now we are parallel to the road...nose facing the guard rail and the 200 foot drop....tail facing granite cliffs) and it picked up speed at a rate that still amazes me as I type.  I seriously believe we were now going parallel and starting to turn backwards at 45mph toward a guard rail lined with make-shift memorials....many families and individuals have gone straight through and plunged to their deaths.  I looked at John who had a terrified expression on his face (He said, "Christy, I can't control the VAN!!) and back at the kids...who had a look that is burned on my memory and I thought, "My poor Mom and Dad...." and then I thought, "Lord, please let ALL of us die...don't let the kids be scared and all alone in this car when we hit the bottom." and then we hit the guard rail so hard that it was all in slow motion...very loud slow motion.

Our hands flew up and our heads flew forward and all you could hear was a huge crash and glass and that's when it hit me, "If I am going to die tonight...I am going to go out talking to my God." and I ke[t my hands straight up in the air and I screamed, "JOSHUA 1:9  DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED! DO NOT BE TERRIFIED!  FOR THE LORD, YOUR GOD, IS WITH YOU WHEREVER YOU GO!" and I kept on saying it louder and louder with each crash against the guard rail and with each spin of the van that was picking up force and anger...and as I was screaming I looked back and the kids were doing the same.

They were saying...through SOBS..."JOSHUA 1:9  DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED! DO NOT BE TERRIFIED!  FOR THE LORD, YOUR GOD, IS WITH YOU WHEREVER YOU GO!" over  and over and over as if it was the last words that would ever be spoken from our lips...I have no idea how many times we said that bible verse but each time we did...we became more and more convinced that the words were truth and that God Himself was there.

John said he KNEW God was there because as soon as I started screaming...he felt the power of God reach over and take the wheel.  At one point, John took his hands OFF of the wheel and he said God was now in control of the van.  Have you ever heard that song by Carrie Underwood..."Jesus, Take the Wheel"?  I love it...but what I really love is that I have seen the miracle of the Maker of the Universe drive my van...and He is really good!

After what seemed like an eternity...the van stopped spinning and crashing and speeding up.  It just spun itself out like a toy and stopped on that cold, snowy road.  Not a soul in sight.  Not a sound but our breathing....nothing.

John said, "Holy....what made you start praying like that?"

And I said, "I figured I wanted to be talking to Him when we died...it seemed like what I needed to do..."

The kids were quietly sobbing now and sitting very still.  I said  to John...."Is that our ski rack going down the highway?" and he said, "Oh, my gosh....it is...that thing will cause another accident!"

Our huge ski rack had flung off the van in all of the excitement and was now torpeedoing (not a verb until this very moment!) down this already dangerous road.  Lord, help us.

And we sat.  In the snow.  On the side of the road.  No one was hurt and God was just waiting for the next installment of, "I got your back".

Out of the darkness we saw headlights.  They were slowly making their way towards our broken van and as they got closer we saw that it was an MP from West Point. Lord, YOU, sir, are amazing.

Who do you think got out of that patrol car?  No, not God...this is not "Touched By An Angel"!....it was the 8 year old MP who had pulled me over just 3 weeks ago and the look on his face told me that he knew who I was too.

He said, "This belong to you?"  and he pointed to our dented up ski rack.

"YES!  We are so sorry...we had an accident (as if he couldn't see that!) and it flew off!

He said, "Is the van drivable?"

John said, "I think so......"

8 year old MP said, "Okay...I'll follow you home and make sure you guys are okay."

At this point....some people might say, "WHAT ARE THE ODDS?"...but the truth is...there is no such thing as ODDS.  God knew exactly what He was doing.  We had been spared and we had been rescued.

We drove home and I ran in the house because the day before I made TONS of Christmas cookies and put them in big beautiful cookie boxes and had said, "I have no idea who I am going to give these to!". Now I knew...the MP station needed a sugar rush and I was their gal!

When the MP got to our house, I rushed out, handed him the cookies, thanked him with as much energy as I had left and I hugged him. I mean, folks...I HUGGED HIM...and I said, "You have no idea but you were an answer to our prayer tonight before we even had a chance to ask God for one.  You were used by God and I am so thankful for you!"

He said, "Oh, okay...."

I love it...a confused servant.  Perfect.  God loves a humble and pliable heart.

So, today, December 17 I am pausing.  Thank you, Lord for saving us that night.  Thank You for driving our van and thank You for Your comforting words from Joshua 1:9.  I will forever have them on my lips and in my heart and wear them on my sleeve.  You ARE the God who takes away discouragement and You ARE the God who casts out terror and You ARE the God who is with me wherever I go.  Praise You, from the highest mountain and the depths of the sea...You are the God who saves and loves and blankets us with mercy and forgiveness.

Thank you.