How I found Jesus

This should really be called how Jesus got my attention. As a child I was only taken to church a few times. No one in my family had strong in beliefs and I think they didn’t want me to grow up totally naïve to it all.

Those few times I did go were odd, something never felt right and I didn’t like it. I did learn some things but oddly I did not learn the name Jesus or anything about him. Likely because I wasn’t paying attention. Over time I did learn who he had been.

Growing older my crowd wasn’t much into religion and neither was I. I even went so far as to play devil’s advocate for any such idea, even once mocking Jesus.
Now comes the part that puts reality, common sense, physics, pure luck and everything impossible without Him into the story.

I was older, in my 50s. One night I was sitting around drinking vodka while playing some computer game. Back then I drank Smirnoff out of the bottle washing it down with water. Crude yes, but I was happy with it until later that night when I was running low on the booze aspect of things so decided to drive to get more. I was already too drunk to be driving but it was a short trip, just a few blocks on quiet dirt streets, so I went for it.

Getting to the liquor store and getting my bottle was fine, no problems. But then I noticed what a beautiful night it was, clear sky, more stars than I could count. I couldn’t resist going for a longer drive. A fast drive. Given what happened that was probably the most foolish, stupidest thing I’ve ever done.

I drove out into a dark and mostly vacant area of small, but paved, roads. And as expected I didn’t see any other vehicle. Just a few miles from my home I took a turn onto an even more quiet and isolated road. And just as planned, that is when I put the pedal to the metal.

My car sits very low to the ground with extra wide tires and it goes very fast. Difficult for any car to go faster at this altitude because oxygen is thin and engines require good airflow to create power. Power that leads to speed.

It was a dark night, no other cars in sight. Driving in places like that you can forget what the rest of the world is like, and also see headlights from other vehicles miles away. There were none. I was loving it as the car passed 120 miles per hour and soon reached 140. Around curves, down deep valleys and up the other sides. It’s only about a 10 mile long road so to the end and back doesn’t take long. It’s one of the roads in high school the driving instructor took us on.

Well, anyway. What’s the point of going to the liquor store if you aren’t going to drink what you buy? All along the way I’d been sipping on the vodka as my foot got heavier.

Upon getting back, close to town, there were warning signs near the end of the road. Those signs very clearly warn: End of Road. There are even rumble grooves in the pavement. I was too drunk and lost in my own blurry world and didn’t even notice them.

Thankfully I had slowed down so when I saw with my own eyes the road was nearly all gone, I was back down to about 120 mph and was about 300 feet from the end of the road.

I, of course, nailed the brakes hard and put the car into a side slide but it was too late. Sideways the car slid the last many feet of the road, then across the larger road and off the other side.

On the other side was the barrow pit, lower than the road and full of grass and sage brush. I saw it coming, I knew what was going to happen; as soon as the car hit the grass and brush, already tilted because of the down slide, it was going to launch into the air, flipping and end up landing on top of me. I guesstimate the car was moving 80 to 90 mph then. For a single second I knew I was about to die or end up a quadriplegic.

Then that second was over and I only partly remember small bits of what happened next. The car did slide straight across the main road, its 12” wide tires leaving 4 dark, black trails of rubber on the pavement.

I barely remember what happened next or maybe I don’t remember it at all. When my senses did return, the car was on the high ground on the other side of the barrow pit. It had slid down into the barrow pit, over and through the grass and brush and then up the other side. It had turned so when it went through the barbed wire fence at the top of the ditch it was moving nearly forward. I know this because there are still scratches on the hood from the barbs on the wire. The fence did slow it down and the back of the car spun half around so the road was again in front of me.

There it stopped and stalled and I’m not sure how much later it was when my senses returned and I woke up. I wasn’t hurt, nothing had happened to me. I guess I’d gone into a fugue state or something.
So there I was, in my car, on the edge of a prairie and in a daze.

In my understanding of physics, force and motion what had happened is not possible. Could not have happened. Here’s why: If not immediately, at some point the rear tires, maybe front to, would have hit a brush with solid roots. Then the car already canted down on the right side would have been at the mercy of momentum. The right side tires and wheels would have went downward and the left side of the car, would have launched off the ground flipping around it's longitudinal middle.

In my 1 second mental preview I saw 2 spins in the air then a landing on top either breaking my neck, killing me instantly. Or breaking my back leaving me a quadriplegic.

Clearly that hadn’t happened so I got out of the car and walked around it, looking to see how much damage there was. Amazingly, other than the scratches on the hood there was no noticeable damage at all. I did find more damage later to the front air dam and both right side tires had noticeable flat spots.

I got back into the car, hit the starter and it roared to life as always. I drove back though the fence, back down into the barrow pit and back up onto the road. Then I drove the few miles to home.

I kept it together while getting home but as soon as I was inside I broke down in tears and absolute terror. I have never been so scared in all my life. It hit me like a battering ram. Shortly before then I was going to die, not even avoidable. I laid on the floor crying and it was then he let me know he was there.

It was Jesus, he had been there and made the impossible happen. What I felt right then was incredible love and familiarity. He was my best friend and I knew it. Then it was clear he had always been with me. Watching over and caring for me, being there fixing things I didn’t even know were things that needed fixing.

Since then I talk to him even more than I talk to myself, which is saying a lot. I ask him for help with simple things, like “please help me find the dustpan.” Two seconds later the dustpan is a foot away right in front of me. For whatever reason I couldn’t see it and he opened my eyes, there it was.

More often, during my bedtime prayers I’ll ask him about something in my life or about beliefs. As I’m waking in the morning the answer to the problem or question often becomes clear in my head.

This is the end of my story about how I became so close to Jesus.

I hope you enjoyed it. It is long and drawn out but it is not fiction. It is my best attempt to relay what really happened.


Always remember, giving Jesus a try costs you nothing. His gifts are free.