Several weeks ago Emily received a birthday package from some dear friends and in it was a small multi-colored stained-glass hanging with a docile butterfly and pink flowers that read, "Our life is a gift from God, what we do with that life is our gift back to God." I have to confess that I thought, then said to Emily, "how cliché and cheesy!" Little did I know that this weekend that butterfly stained-glass would profoundly become my most favorite and cherished hanging in our home.

Last Saturday Emily and the twins were on an chilly early morning drive to speak on missions at the Alliance Women’s group of Wooster. When rounding an innocuous corner at 55 mph, the silver Mercury Topaz she was driving began to slide to the left on some black ice. Her counter-steering was of no avail, the car was completely out of control, sliding sideways down the two-lane country highway. Just before she and the 3-month old twins slammed up the guardrail at 50 mph she cried out, "Oh Jesus!" Not in a swearing sort of way, but as her abbreviated form of "Oh help me, Jesus!"

About the same time, 50 miles away, Emily’s parents were in Wooster when her mother saw it snowing outside and said to her husband Jim, "I really feel that the Lord wants us to stop what we are doing and pray for Emily and the babies safety and protection." They stopped and prayed as led by the Lord. Ten minutes later they received a phone call from a nervous farmer, "Your daughter was just in a car accident. The car ended up precariously balanced on top of the guardrail, but…"

When the car came to it’s abrupt stop atop the guardrail, both rear wheels were 5 feet off the frozen ground. The front end flung forward to a 45 degree angle facing downhill towards the ditch, and eventually, the creek-laden ravine. At it’s lowest spot, 15 feet below the roadway, there was a frigid flowing creek. Without the guardrail, that would have most likely been the final resting place of the balancing car. Emily’s first instinct was to put the car in park, turn off the engine, and check on the babies whereabouts and condition. Just as she stepped out of the car she smelled gas, then heard the flow of an almost full gas tank. "Get the babies out!" she thought. Then she thought, "what am I going to do with them in this 20-degree weather." Thirty seconds after calling out to Jesus, a car drove by on the usually vacant rural highway. Emily flagged them down and mouthed, "Help me." The man asked, "Is everything okay?"

Emily said, "No, I smell gas, and I have infants in the backseat."

He said, "Well, let’s get them out, we can give them to my wife and her friend in the backseat."

The smashed in back door on Josey’s side wouldn’t open, so they had to go through the driver’s side back door to get Ethan and Josey out. When Emily got into the good Samaritan’s car with the babies and found out the woman in the backseat was the youth pastor’s wife, she began to cry. Tears of pain, concern, shock, and also joy. God and his angels had sent these Christians to help her. They weren’t even supposed to be on that road at that time. They were on their way to a bible quiz meet at a Nazarene church, when they had taken a wrong turn. In God’s economy, it was a right turn.

Everyone was okay, the babies slept through the whole thing safely strapped into their car seats, and there were no apparent injuries! The firemen came to disconnect the battery and make sure there were no sparks. Emily signed a waiver with the paramedics stating she was fine, except for a small lump and nagging bruise the size of an apple on her leg where it impacted the gear shift. All was well, except for the car.

The 1986 Mercury Topaz had over $8,000 damage. It was a total loss. The car slid on top of the guardrail for 25 feet and hit the stanchion on the frame of the car stopping it’s impetus towards the ravine. The car was almost slit in half on the bottom. Looking underneath the car, one could see the backseat carpet through the floorboards, the gas tank slit wide open. It was a miracle that as the car slid metal to metal on the guardrail, there were no sparks to ignite the gas. It was a miracle that the one stanchion stuck up above the guardrail, unlike the rest, and stopped the car before it went over into the ditch. It was a miracle that Emily’s parents prayed when they did. It was a miracle when the Christians arrived on that rural highway when they did. It was a miracle that no one was hurt. I praise God for His protection of my wife and babies. In spite of my lack of prayer that morning for them, God brought others in my place. Would I still be praising Him if they were in heaven today?

I don’t know. I can’t tell you the answer to that question. All I can say, is that my God saved my family Saturday. Of that, I’m sure.

And as Emily and I look at the light streaming through the stained-glass butterfly hanging in our bathroom window, we’re reminded that every breath is a gift from God. It’s no longer cliché or cheesy to me. Our gift back to God, is how we spend that breath.

JD and Emily Dueck
Jacoby, Ethaniel, and Josey
email: jdandemily@kellnet.com