I could swear the beast made eye contact with me, a frozen-in-time moment that went on and on.
My husband, who was at the wheel, is equally convinced we were adjacent to the giant buck, the largest I’ve ever seen in nature, for just a couple of seconds.
Dark was settling in on the two-lane steep and winding road that was taking us back to our home-away-from-home in the rural outskirts of Platte City. Wrong place, wrong time.
The buck, eyes locked on mine, was going to smash into us, sending our vehicle to the scrapyard and perhaps the two of us to a hospital. It wouldn’t have been great for the buck, either.
But it didn’t happen.
Instead, the deer put on the brakes, ran alongside us on the driver’s side for a bit and then veered off into a darkening farm field.
But for the grace of God.
At Thanksgiving, we count our blessings, enumerating the enriching and rewarding life events that have gotten us where we are. But after that terrifying episode a month ago, I started to reflect instead on the bad things that haven’t, but could have, happened to me.
It’s a long list. All the better angels must be assigned to my case, leaving the rest of you with a lower tier. Sorry about that.
There was the time I was driving my sleeping family home from a trip to Mississippi and wondered why all the cars ahead of me were shifting over to the interstate’s left lane. No problem, I’d have the right lane all to myself.
Whomp! I sailed into and over the huge truck tire everyone else had been smart enough to avoid.
The minivan bounced on the other side with a jolt that woke everyone up and could have flipped us over. But no, those things didn’t happen. We stayed upright and made it safely home. We lost a wheel cover – oh, well. Grace.
I can still hyperventilate when I replay the day my middle kid turned 10. We were vacationing at Gettysburg when he started to step off the curb into 50 mph traffic. I saw and grabbed him back just in time. Tragedy barely averted.
Two linked occasions when angels worked overtime happened several months and several decades ago.
The more recent event, just like our encounter with Mr. Antlers, happened as dusk turned to night. Driving in my subdivision, I noticed a woman on my left, standing next to a child on a riding toy. I slowed and carefully drove past, steering a little to the right to give them more space.
“That little girl is practically in the road,” said my husband from the passenger seat.
What little girl?
Turns out there was another child on the right side of the road. In taking care to avoid the pair on the left, and in the encroaching darkness, I had not seen the second child, at all. And I came way too close to hitting her.
I considered minding my own business but couldn’t. I circled back around, lowered my window and told the mother about what had almost happened. She didn’t appear to be mad or glad, but a little chastened, and that was my goal. You angels were just so good to me, and to that mom, too.
A moment later, my brain channeled back to a day when our two sons were 6 and 2, playing on the back porch of our Festus home. Our driveway led down to one of the busiest residential streets in town, where the traffic was always zippy.
The knock on the back door brought me to the porch, where the two boys were still innocently playing.
A stern woman glared at me.
“Your little one was just out in the road,” she informed me. “I thought you needed to know.”
Chastened, much?
Thank the angels he wasn’t killed. Thank the angels that woman took time out of her day to circle around, park in my driveway and warn me about my carelessness.
But for the grace of God.
These are just a few of the times something terrible could have changed my life forever, but I was saved from the thing that didn’t happen.
I would bet most everyone can identify.
Of course, from time to time, clouds are going to sweep in and hit all of us with hard seasons, when bad things do happen, yes, even to good people. Sometimes, the deer will hit the car.
But while the sun may hide for a while, it will never go away entirely, if we look for it. The angels will stay on duty and do their best for us.
And God will remain gracious.
For all of that, I am thankful.