God Protected Me While Driving Under the Influence
My name is Mark and although I’ve never had an addiction or a “need” for alcohol, my abuse of it could have cost me my life on 2 separate occasions; I will share one of those with you today. I never have “needed” alcohol, but when I partied I partied hard. That might be surprising from a guy that grew up in a pretty good home in Northern Virginia, but it’s the truth. I’m sharing this with you today to show how God’s grace, basically giving me a second and third chance when I didn’t deserve it, has kept me alive and has since woken me up to the damage that could have been caused if my mistakes had killed me.
Arguably the greatest act of God’s grace in my life was the summer after my freshman year of college. I had left a party at a friend’s house and was heading back to my dad’s house, where I was spending the summer. I was driving alone on a very windy road, one of those in which you have to pay attention at all times, especially if you’re intoxicated, heading towards my Dad’s. After the windy road I crossed over a very busy intersection (it’s even busy late at night) and ended up parked in the driveway of a house. When I came to I was in back of a police car and I spent the night in the drunk tank.
You see, I don’t remember ANY of this except about a 3-second timeframe in which I remember driving down a straight road prior to getting on the very windy road. It is hard to explain how dangerous this was but I hope you have at least a glimpse of what could have happened.
I know reflect and ponder how many lives did I put in danger? Did I stop at the traffic light when crossing the busy intersection? Probably not. A night of fun and drinking could have turned extremely tragic for my family and the families of those I could have killed.
▪ What if a mother and her little girl were coming home from a birthday party and I had hit them?
▪ What if a newly married couple on their way home from the airport after their honeymoon had been victims of my mistake?
Grace - God not allowing me to not have to face those nightmares when I deserved it. That’s why I’m sharing this – without God guiding the steering wheel and guiding it away from danger, I could very well not be here today. And that just wouldn’t affect me, it would impact and cause pain to those I love; my Mom, my Dad, my brothers, my nephews, my friends and God.
Want to know the crazy thing? I honestly did not think I was that drunk when I got in my car - and I convinced my friends I was well enough to drive. I remember getting into my car and then a 3-second span after that, but that’s it until I was in the back of a squad car. Even if you don’t have a serious drinking problem, making one serious mistake on any given night can change your entire life. I thank God to this day that He was watching over me.
Although it took me a few years after this incident to “wake up” I now fully realize how God was protecting me. The fact that I wasn’t even in an accident just doesn’t make sense to chalk it up to chance. A very windy road, me being blacked out, crossing through a busy intersection, and not crashing into the garage door of the driveway I parked in. How did I go unharmed during all of this? It was God watching over me. If you don’t think God plays a role in your life just take a moment to talk to Him. Even if you don’t think He exists, why not ask Him to show that He is real. You might be surprised.
If you have any questions or just want to talk to someone that knows what it’s like to put his life in danger due to his partying, feel free to click on the link below to get in touch with me.
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