Jaws of Life

I was sitting in on my Moms bed chatting with her.  It was so quiet around the house.  My two brothers had gone to basket ball practice and Paige, my sister went to my Grandmas house to sew.  Dad had driven them where they needed to go.  Just me and Mom.  Sometimes it was so nice just to have almost the whole quiet house to myself.  I thought of how cold it was getting out.  Snow had been dusting the grass since early that morning.  Our first Tennessee snow!  I don't really care about the snow, as long as I stay in the house and out of it.  I occasionally looked out side to see the swirling snowflakes masking the sky.  So peaceful...

Screech...Crunch..!!!!!

"Oh my gosh, what was that?!" I looked at Mom puzzled.

"I don't know!" She hopped off her bed and headed down the hall to the front door.  I looked out the bedroom window, Desty (My horse) and the goats were all looking up towards the road.  Both of us threw on our jackets, we could see the red tail lights through the pine trees that blocked our view of the road.

"Oh, Rachel!  What if it was Dad?"  We sprinted out.  It was not Dad, thank God!  The car was straddling the ditch lengthwise.  The car had rolled over once and landed there. The windshield and many of the windows were shattered.  Two people stood outside of the car.

"Is everyone alright?!"  We asked.  The man had bumped his head on the glass, he had a few small cuts and the girl had bruised fingers.  Boy it was chilly out!

I fetched a quilt from the house and rapped it around the lady.

"Thank you."  She said.

"No biggy, are you sure your ok?"  Mom had left to call the police.  In the back of my mind I was thinking about the other cars that kept coming around the curve.  The 1st responder came, she was off duty and had her 2 children in the car.  When Mom came back I went in the house to call my Grandmother who had Paige to tell her to inform Dad when he got there that the roads were icy. (Dad had forgotten his cellphone).  I was making some coffee just in case, when I heard a thump, thud, thud, thud, and what sounded like a woman's voice screaming.  I immediately thought of Mom, standing out there.  What had the thump, thump been?  Was that a car hitting people?! I started praying that God would protect the people on our property and on the road.

Mom burst into the house, "There has been another accident!  Two people are pinned in."  She looked really worried.  My mind was racing, Pinned. Pinned? Between 2 cars?!  Are they ok....Pinned....oh, trapped in the car.  Mom ran out and I started crying out to God for strength and help.  I called my Grandmother in NY and she said she would be praying.  I felt better then.  Mom had the first accident victim lady come in to get warmed up.  We talked a little and she said that no one was dead.

By then the road for 1/8th of a mile in front of our house was flashing red and blue lights.  The second car had  slid on the ice and rolled 4-5 times.  My Mom was standing in the driveway were you would think that the car would have landed.  She said that she didn't think it was going to stop.  It had almost smashed into the 1st responders car with her 2 kids in it.  She was the one screaming that I had heard.

Slowly I walked out into the crisp night.  Blue and red filled the air.  I felt like a stranger walking through a movie scene.  The car next to the driveway was steaming and it was up on it's side.  Big ruts in the yard indicated the car smashing into the earth as it rolled.  Paramedics and people dressed like fire fighters (They probably were) stabilized the car so it wouldn't fall over while they extracted the person now inside.  I ghosted over to my mom's side.

"Sweetheart, you don't need to be out here."  She looked at me concerned.

"I'm fine.  No one is hurt?  Is that person out yet?" 

"Not yet. They are using the Jaws of Life (Powerful cutters that can crush through steel). Now please head to the house for me."  She looked at me sternly.

"Ok."

Later the 1st responder came in to wash a cut on her finger from the glass.  She said the everyone was talking and maybe had some broken ribs but not to much more.  They had gotten everyone out and were headed for the hospital.

It was about 3 hours before all the police and ambulance left.

Hands of  a Loving God had reached down last night and kept my Mom, my Dad, and Many other people from death.  I thank Him and want you to understand that without God there, there would have been a fatality and I would be left with a scar for life and another family would be left with a broken heart.

God is our life.  He is the Jaws of Life.