Miracles Behind The Wheel III

The Summer of 79′

I saved the best for last. The other two Miracles Behind the Wheel that I shared (click here if you missed the first one and click here for the second one) were unexplainable for myriad reasons. Both of those experiences involved me losing control behind the wheel and somehow I came out the other end unscathed. This experience was void of losing control. The weather was perfect. There wasn’t much traffic on the road. My car was running perfectly with no issues. Yet, what I’m about to share still blows my mind when I think about what happened on September 28th, 1979.

I had two ways to get home from work. I could take I-69 across town and I’d get home in about 20 minutes. Or I could take the scenic route going through town. The scenic route took me through the neighborhood that I grew up in so when I was feeling a little nostalgic I’d take the longer, scenic route home. In the latter part of May of 79 I was heading west on Court Street in my old stomping grounds doin about 30 MPH in my 1973 Chevy Monte Carlo (I loved that car). I was fast approaching a house where my grade school crush lived. As I was rolling down the street toward her house I noticed someone was sitting on the front porch. I slowed way down as I passed LB’s house and got all rubber necked zeroing in on the person on the front porch.

As soon as I passed the house I was like, “That’s her!” There was a grocery store a block away and I pulled in there to catch my breath. My heart was beating like a drum. I was not a confident lady’s man at that age. I vacillated on going back to her house and saying, “Hi.” After all, I hadn’t seen her in 10 years. I finally got the nerve up and pulled back around. I pulled into her driveway and she was looking at me like, “Who the heck is this and what does he want?” When I got out of the car and got about halfway up the sidewalk she said, “Scott Klein?” I said, “That’s me.” How ya doing Laurie? Long time no see.”

We sat on her porch together for a good two hours getting caught up. I was in lust…I mean in love at first sight. I mean, she was my grade school crush. She was like a movie star. She was untouchable in grade school. Long story short we ended up hitting it off and the summer of 79′ was on fire. As a young adult, it was by far the best summer of my life. 🤣

When August rolled around she informed me that she was going back to school down in Ann Arbor (Go Blue Baby!). I’m thinkin, “We’re tight. I can handle a long-distance relationship.” She kinda led me on that we’d still be good. I could go down there on the weekends and she could come back to Flint occasionally. I went down to see her the first weekend in September after she got moved into her dorm. As I was driving home I was like, “Yeah, it’s all good. I can do this.” Well, about two weeks later I get the “Dear John letter” I wasn’t expecting. She explained to me that it just wasn’t gonna work out and she wanted to end the relationship.

I was devastated. I was crushed beyond despair. I called her up (got the answering machine) and told her that I was coming down there to see her Friday night (the 28th) if for nothing else for closure. When I got down to her dorm she was nowhere to be found. I asked her roommates where she was. I got the “Deer in the headlights” look and the, “I have no idea” response. I spent another 45 minutes cruising the dorms looking for her. It was Friday night and all the parties were warming up. I wasn’t in a party mood and I finally decided to tuck my tail between my legs and head back home. 

Miracle on US 23 Northbound

It was a warm night in late September. When I left Ann Arbor it was still light out but it would be dark by the time I got home as dusk was going to set in shortly. When I got in my car I started crying like a little baby. The reality was a hard pill to swallow. After about five minutes of sobbing and feeling sorry for myself, I hit the road. When I hit US 23 heading north toward Flint there wasn’t much traffic on the road. That stretch of highway between Flint and Ann Arbor never got that busy. I was cruisin’ along minding my own business.

I was doing about 70 and was passing most of the cars that were on the road. For the most part, I’d try to stay in the right lane, but with no traffic on the road, the left lane would suffice (that’s a two-lane road). I was in the right lane and I could see a car traveling in the right lane ahead of me that was going considerably slower than me that I was going to pass. This piece of road was a fairly steep hill (steep for southern Michigan anyway) that curved to the right at the crest. I had my car on cruise control and I pulled out of the right lane to pass the slower-moving car ahead of me. When I passed him I was about halfway up the hill and there were no other cars in sight on this side of the hill.

Flip a coin on what I’d do in that situation and it would probably be 50/50. Half the time I’d pull back over into the right lane and the other half I’d just keep on crusin in the left lane. Since there was no traffic in sight I decided to stay in the left lane. I was kinda numb right about now. My mind felt like it was in a vortex from the emotional carnage I had going on between my ears. But, it was a nice night. No traffic on the road and “I will survive.” just came on the radio. I had my left hand out the window and something caught my eye from my peripheral vision. I looked across the road for a split second but didn’t see anything (It was getting too dark to see that far).

I was getting close to the top of the hill when I squared my head back around to look at the road. No sooner than I had my eyes back on the road I heard a very faint but succinct voice that said, “Move back into the right lane, NOW!” I didn’t question it. I didn’t ignore it. I didn’t rebel, I switched lanes that second. No sooner than me getting over into the right lane, a car comes flying past me in that left lane, (going the wrong way on the interstate) the lane I was in just seconds ago. And…, it was right at the very crest of the hill; the timing couldn’t have been more exact.

By the time I pulled over to stop in the emergency lane on the right-hand side of the road, I was already going downhill on the other side of the hill and couldn’t see behind me. I feared that someone was going to get in a head-on collision. My heart was pounding like a drum and it felt like it was going to come out of my chest. I was in shock. I couldn’t believe what I just saw. I couldn’t believe what just happened. I couldn’t believe that I heard a voice that literally saved my life. 

Conclusion

I got chills writing this and reliving the moment. It still blow me away. I’ve shared three, what I’m calling “Miracles behind the wheel.” There were a few more, but not as compelling as these three. All the other ones I can find a “loophole” and come up with a justification of how I escaped an out of control situration. Or how I saw what was going to happen before it happened and took action. But this one…I was in complete control (so I thought) in that the car wasn’t spinning out of control. This experience was so different. But the voice. I head it. It was the real deal. Even though I didn’t believe anything at this point about God, that was a prodigious God moment.