LIFE SAVERS
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
It was a Saturday night, turning into an early Sunday morning, in October 2019. I was with my sister and mom at our close friends’ house. We usually would go there every Saturday after church to close the Sabbath and then leave around 2 or 3 a.m. While my mom would hang out with our friends’ mom, my sister and I would play video games or watch movies with our friends, Braden and Adam. Braden was my older sister’s age, and Adam was my age, so we had some of the same interests. Our friends’ house was located on this particular road where people had actually driven their cars into their front porch. There had even been a case where a man crashed in their front yard and passed away. We always prayed together to be safe when we were at their home. On this night we were all down in their mom’s room talking and eating lifesavers. It was around 1:30 a.m. when we decided to leave and go home. While we were trying to leave, we kept going back to get more candy. Eventually, we walked out the front door and as I stepped outside I had this uneasy feeling, so I quickly prayed to myself just to keep us all safe. We had all gone outside. As we were putting our belongings in our car, we heard a loud engine in the distance. We saw lights come up around the corner and a car crashed just a few yards away from their property. We heard it flip and fall into the ditch. We immediately called the police and stepped inside, just in case it exploded. Braden and his dad hurried out to the car and got the man out, just in time, as the car caught on fire. The police got there and we heard the tires from the car popping as the fire grew bigger and bigger. We were talking to the police and they said we had gone outside at just the right time. Then we started to think about it. If we were not trying to get candy and went outside any earlier we would have been in the car driving down the road and could have been hit head-on and died. If we went out any later, Braden and his dad would not have been there to get the man out of his car and he could have died. I was really glad that I had that small prayer. This showed me how important every moment is with God. He loves me and will listen to my prayers even if it is under my breath. I will always remember that no matter where I am, God will always look out for me and the ones I love.
By: Gracie McCall ('23)
Wilmington, North Carolina