You
will never know how strong your faith is… until you are tested. I know this is true because I was tested last
summer and it absolutely changed my life forever. Let me start from the
beginning.
I have
read my Max Lucado Study Bible every morning for the past three years. I only read for 10 or 15 minutes and I
certainly don’t understand everything I read, but it helps me to start my day
out right and keep my focus on God. On that particular Friday morning in June,
I didn’t read my Bible. I’m not sure why, but that act (or lack of action)
turned out to be extremely prophetic.
Around
noon that day I was at a busy retail center in Irvine trying to park near a
bank. The parking lot was
extremely crowded with cars coming and going so I had to wait a while for a
spot to open up. When one did, I could see that the car coming towards me
wanted that spot so I waived him in. But he politely waived back for me to take
it instead. I said thanks, turned my wheel and hit the gas. In less than a
single second I smashed into something and saw a small body going down hard
under the front of my truck. When I got out, my left front tire was completely
on top of her tiny little legs, so I had to jump back in and back off of her.
My heart was racing out of control and my mind was unable to comprehend or
believe what had just happened.
The
man in the other car called 911 and I placed a blanket over her and told her
not to move. I asked her if
she had any family I could call, but she was so frightened and hurt she couldn’t
speak. I held on to her and told her I was so sorry that I didn’t see her. An
ambulance was there within minutes and so was a motorcycle officer. As the
ambulance drove away I broke down, traumatized out of mind. The police officer
put his arm around me and kept telling me to remember that it was just an
accident, and that accidents sometimes happen even when we are being careful.
When I
arrived at the hospital I found out her name was Pao Chi Chen. She was tiny, less than four feet tall and 85
years old, so I knew this accident would be life threatening. But as incredible
as it seems, neither one of her legs were broken. She had fractures in one foot
and the skin was torn from both legs, so they had to move her to the UCI Burn
Center where she could receive skin grafts. But wherever they took her, I
followed and I continued to visit her constantly. Every few days I would go to
the hospital to see how she was doing. The potential for infection and other problems
was huge so I prayed hard every day for her to live, to recover fully, and to
be able to walk again.
UCI Irvine Medical Center
During
all the visits I made to the hospital, Mrs. Chen never once had a harsh word
for me. And neither did her
family. They were unbelievably gracious and understanding. Over time we began
to grow very close. I took her flowers, books and magazines and often read to
her. In return she would tell me about her amazing life. She was born in 1928
in Shang Hai China, lost her parents when she was young, fled on foot over
2,000 miles to escape communism, traveled by boat to Paris, France where she
became an extremely accomplished artist, exhibited her paintings in seven
countries and learned to speak four languages. This is one amazing woman! She
is a Buddhist and I am a Christian, so we often have the most incredible
philosophical conversations about faith, family, God and love.
It has been 9 months since the accident and I still visit Mrs. Chen every single week. She is 86 now and fully recovered but she is scared to go for walks on her own. So I take her for walks myself around Woodbridge Lake in Irvine and I stay close to her so no crazy drivers will run her over again. (I joke about it but the truth is…I don’t want anything bad to ever happen to her ever again!) In case you’re wondering about the reason I continue to visit Mrs. Chen, it is not because I feel guilty, it is because I care about her very much and enjoy her company. We might seem like an odd couple, but we are truly best friends.
Looking back on this incident, I can see that God was involved every step of the way. Maybe He was testing my faith, I don’t know. But what I do know is that I made a huge mistake and needed God’s help… and because I kept my faith in Him and trusted Him, He came through for me. He made sure Mrs. Chen’s legs were not broken, He answered my prayers that she would be fully healed and He also answered my prayers that I be forgiven.
He also made sure I got His message. Remember how I mentioned I didn’t read my Bible the day of the accident. Well I did read it when I got home that later that evening and here is what it said,
“With God there are no accidents.
There are only incidents which are designed
to draw us closer to Him.”
~ Max Lucado Study Bible, 2 Samuel 12:19, Page
408
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