Near Death

I almost died today. Seriously. I was almost involved in a horrendous car accident.

As I mentioned before my mechanic told me when he serviced my car that everything was fine, except the brakes could fail at anytime. And I half believed him. I believed him enough to not drive most of the time and only drive when it was really important.

So I decided to drive from church to Scripture today because it's about a 20 minute walk and my class was starting in 10 minutes. I hopped in the car, drove down the road, got to a Give Way sign, put my foot on the brake and nothing happened. The car just kept going merrily along. This was a serious problem, I was flying along at 20km/h if I didn't slow down soon I would commit a traffic offense.

Luckily, since I had been told my car could lose its brakes at any moment I had been mentally rehearsing what I would do in case of a break failure - gear down, neutral, handbrake, park. And my self training kicked in like clockwork. I said "Bloody hell!" then swerved all over the road hoping that any on coming cars, trees, telegraph poles or people would be less likely to crash into me if I was covering as much ground as possible.

As it happens, I turned left and managed to park my car on the side of the road. I actually don't know how I did this, but the swerving must have done the trick. Then I walked back to church and borrowed Anika's car.

After Scripture I went back to get my car. Anika drove behind me with her hazards on as I drove myself back to church in first and second gear while only turning left. I must say I could become a stunt driver. I also confirmed during the drive that my handbrake has about as much stopping ability as a fat man going downhill in a shopping trolley. Still like the fat man in the trolley at least it has novelty value.

But I am thanking God that I didn't die. Today has proved to me that I'm probably going to be famous. God has preserved my life for a reason. Watch this space.