Grateful

I had an interesting experience this evening. I was trying to get to I-5 from Capitol Hill when I missed the connecting street, which caused me to go to Beacon Hill (for those of you not familiar with Seattle, just pretend and go with it). I was highly frustrated with this as I was sitting at a stop light, so I bent down to grab a map when I heard a loud crash. A suburban had hit a Saturn in the intersection 200 ft in front of me. At first I froze, then I put on my hazards and went to help. The driver of the Saturn, an older Asian woman, was having trouble breathing, but was able to shift to the passenger seat. All the other people were okay. Then I remembered I have a cell phone, so I called 911. I waited with the Asian woman while the ambulance was on the way. I asked if she was alright, if there was anything I could do for her, and I told her that the ambulance was coming. I don’t think she really understood what was going on or what I was saying, and I didn’t know what else to do to help, so I just knelt down beside her and held her hand until the ambulance arrived. The paramedics threw a bunch of questions at me and then told me I could leave, so I did. As I was driving away, I thought about how ticked off I had been at missing my turn and ending up on Beacon Hill. I left that accident really grateful. One, I was grateful that I hadn’t run that red light. Two, I was grateful that I was able to help by calling 911, and three, I was grateful that I had been there. Being a rather huge fan of divine providence, I lifted a prayer of thanksgiving up to God, thanking God that I had missed that turn and witnessed that accident. I also thanked God for that little Asian woman, who’s going to be okay. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the way she looked at me as I held her hand and comforted her.