Description

The Tire Exploded into the Air

This next story was shared with me by Rick Christensen of an event that happened just this last week. He was asked to take a truck and drive to Oakland, CA to pick up some freight out of the port there. The drive down was smooth and uneventful. By 12:30 pm he was loaded and on his way back. Going through Fairfield and Vacaville, it started to rain. Around 2:30pm he was headed east on I-80 approaching Mace Blvd in Davis. It was still raining hard and the traffic was very heavy. He was tooling along at 55 mph in the number two lane when he noticed an 18-wheeler with an empty flatbed in the lane to his left and about four car lengths ahead. It was weaving side to side. Rick described what happened next:

All of the sudden his right rear tire and wheel broke away from the trailer and bounced around under the deck of the trailer before it exploded into the air reaching at least 30 feet or so. Everything went into slow motion as I watched this 150 lbs of iron and rubber sail straight for my windshield. I knew by instinct not to slam on my brakes, or swerve, both would have been too risky. Better to just let nature do its work. “I do recall thinking,” he said, “this is going to hurt.” The tire and wheel hit the very top of the windshield and then bounced into the truck box.

Grateful to still be alive, Rick managed to get the truck off the road. When he stepped out to survey the damage, he was stunned; there was not one mark on the truck. The windshield should have been destroyed and cab seriously damaged—none of the above. Rick said,

If any person had been riding with me who did not believe in divine intervention before this incident, they would now. There is no way there would not have been a serious accident and maybe my death, had not the Lord sent angels to protect me.

When Rick got home and told his sweetheart, Brandi, what had happened. She told him that because of the long trip and the bad weather she had been worried about him and had offered up a prayer on his behalf “at about 2:30 pm.” Rick concluded, “No one can tell me that God does not watch over his servants in their time of need.”

Amen, Brother! Amen!