House Church Talk - An old message brought to the light

[David Anderson]

Good to see Jeff Logan again. Hiya Jeff! I've missed you.

I just recalled reading this email from several years ago. I do a lot of 
trailering myself so I guess that's why I remembered it. Enjoy!

               David Anderson

     Greetings brother David,

I was so glad to receive your email. Yes, I am still at this address but 
I am now living in Richmond, Virginia, instead of Bakersfield, 
California. 

We just pulled in tonight after driving the last stretch from Nashville 
to Richmond -- over 500 miles. Wow! what an experience. We even had an 
accident on the way but no one was hurt. We ended up leaving our trailer 
in Arizona at my wife's uncle's house and coming on without it. The Jeep 
hit the guard rail at 70+ mph and the trailer flipped on its side but 
thanks to God's mercy it was still drivable after the accident. It did 
not flip! The air bags didn't even deploy. The front bumper was scraped 
up and the rear lift gate was dented (by the trailer tongue) but no 
fluids leaked out and none of the lights were broken. The whole 
experience was such a testimony to God's protection that even Sue's uncle 
had to comment that God was looking out for us. Truly it was my mistake 
but God turned it into a revelation of His mercy and care. 

Any way... we are here now at our destination. Now, to find work and a 
home.

We had just left Uncle Jay's house and about 7 miles down the road the 
trailer started to sway gently back and forth. I tried applying the 
brakes (I have trailer brakes, too) but the sway did not go away. Most 
unusual! I was going about 60 mph at the time. Then I remembered that 
someone had told me to apply gas to pull it out of the sway. I did this 
for a short burst but it was still swaying -- wagging the tail of the 
Jeep from left to right. Just then the road began a steep decent and slow 
turn to the right. Afraid to go any faster I let my foot off the gas. 
When I did this the trailer sway increased dramatically until the Jeep 
was going from the right lane to the left and back -- repeatedly. I had 
now lost control. I cried out to God to help me. I soon had grace peace 
in my heart. The Jeep then headed sharply right and toward the guard rail 
as though I was driving at nearly a 90 degree angle to the roadway. As 
the Jeep struck the rail the trailer must have swung around behind and 
gone in front of the Jeep pulling the rear end around. The Jeep slide a 
few feet down the rail with the bumper locked against the rail. The front 
license plate was torn off by the bolts on the guard rail and was found 
crumpled and still attached to the rail -- being held in place by the 
bolt heads. The only thing we can figure is that while the Jeep was held 
upright by the contact with the rail the trailer flipped over and slide 
along the asphalt. This must have kept the Jeep from flipping over from 
the tremendous force of the twisting which left the receiver hitch 
tweaked and the ball bent. The chain never broke and the trailer must 
have snatched the Jeep off the guard rail, dragging it backwards down the 
hiway and away from the rail just at the proper moment in time so as to 
absorb all of the inertia of the impact with the rail. 

There I was sitting upright in the Jeep facing the wrong direction with 
the trailer still attached behind me yet further ahead of me -- so to 
speak. The whole incident will cost me over $1200.00 once I pay my car, 
trailer, and household deductibles, plus a traffic citation of over 
$100.00 for traveling too fast to maintain control of the trailer. The 
speed limit for trailers was 75 but I was originally going 60 mph before 
my manuvere to attempt to gain control. 

Any way, the main thing I want to bring out is that I had lost control. 
There was nothing I could do to control that situation. Had God not 
intervened and sent angels to guide that Jeep and trailer during those 
critical moments we could have been injured or killed. I fully expected 
that the Jeep would not be drivable. But after using a little wire to 
hold the headlights in their proper attitude we continued on some 2100 
miles without any problems. The trailer blews two tires but sustained 
only minor damage. Nothing spilt out of the cargo box and none of the 
boxes of delicate glassware we were carrying was chipped or broken. One 
fishing pole was broke because of the weight shifting to the rear and a 
concrete ring which holds a water fountain was broken into 5 pieces. We 
will find out later if anything else was broken. But as I said, the 
glassware on the side of impact was not broken. We opened several fragile 
boxes and everything was fine. What a miraculous thing! 

Any way, again, we will see what the Lord has for me in Virginia. I am so 
thankful that through this very trying time my wife and uncle both are 
praising God. They can see the hand of God in all of this. They both said 
what I was thinking inside -- God has stopped you here where you have 
someone to help you and to keep your stuff. What would have happened if 
the winds in Oklahoma had flipped the trailer? My uncle pulled the 
trailer home with his big crewcab truck and he remarked that the trailer 
was heavy even for his truck. He seemed to think that the trailer 
out-weighed the Jeep considerably. He marveled that we made it as far as 
we did. The Jeep only weighs about 3800 lbs and we estimated the trailer 
at about 4500 lbs. I had absolutely no trouble pulling that trailer 
through Los Angeles, San Bernardino, the desert and on until I tried to 
leave Benson, Arizona. 

Well, this is quite a bit. I better end. Please write and tell me how you 
all are doing. Especially that new baby.

May God richly bless you,

Jeff Logan

PS. I hope to rejoin HC*talk very soon. But I don't even have my computer 
yet. It is still in Arizona. You know, I have really leared a lot from 
the folks on HC*talk. Not so much that they taught me things directly, 
but they caused me to rethink some of my theology, or doctrines. I am 
getting a much clearer picture of faith and grace. Though I have left the 
sandy soils of self-reliance I have not gone to the other extreme. I am 
finding such a sweet and perfect balance between grace and faith. I hope 
to share it with others soon, once I have put a few scriptures together. 
One focal scripture is Romans 5:1 -- "Therefore, being justified by 
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord, Jesus Christ." This is a 
crucial text. It speaks volumes. Especially when you tie it in with 
Romans 9 and 10 where the Holy Spirit uses Paul to write about the 
righteousness that the Jews sought from the law, apart from the 
righteousness of God, which is by faith. Take care.

With fond affection for a brother in Christ. 
Jeff.