Spiritual Matters: Expect the unexpected

‘As dawn broke, a convoy of police “paddy-wagons” arrived to ferry the kids back to the school – the southbound lanes by then having been cleared and swept of debris.’

Reverend Chris Sparks describes his experience stuck in a motorway lineup following a head-on collision.

Great Expectations was the name Charles Dickens gave to one of his novels. It’s a great title, succinctly capturing an emotion that looks forward with promise.

But many disappointments stem from nurturing expectations that fail to yield the results desired. Even if we’re not disappointed, we may still reflect somewhat ruefully and regretfully when results differ from those envisaged.

On short notice recently, I was asked to drive a high school debating team from Ballina to a Grafton school for a competition.
The Ballina students performed well, and we embarked on the return journey at a little after 6pm. Five minutes from the school, the motorway traffic began slowing, then came to a complete stop. Clearly something major had happened just ahead, for in the evening gloom we could see the vague outline of a large truck – jackknifed across the northbound lanes of the motorway. Curious people were already leaving their vehicles and walking towards the accident site.

Slowly, details began to emerge: There had been a police pursuit; after eventually being pulled over, the vehicle had suddenly sped away, crossed the median strip from the northbound lanes to the southbound and collided head-on with a huge B-double truck; with its steering badly damaged, the truck had then careered out-of-control across the median strip and jackknifed across the northbound lanes.

Emergency services people began to arrive and set to work to cut the critically-injured driver from his vehicle. The Lifesaver helicopter then arrived overhead and landed on the motorway to airlift the driver to hospital – where he died. Meanwhile, the entire motorway was closed by wreckage and debris and a critical-incident team began investigating.

I had 29 people on my coach – just five minutes from the school! But we couldn’t go forwards, or backwards or cross the median strip.
The kids were great. Some sat on the roadway in the dark, playing games and talking. Waiting parents at the school were notified – but could do nothing.
At 11pm, we ushered the kids back onto the coach and settled them down for the night. Then as dawn broke, a convoy of police “paddy-wagons” arrived to ferry the kids back to the school – the southbound lanes by then having been cleared and swept of debris. Finally, the truck was removed, the road swept and traffic began rolling again.

I arrived home 23 hours after leaving to do a relatively simple job. And 11 of those overnight hours had been spent on that motorway, in a stationary coach! No-one could have foreseen – or expected- this turn of events.

Jesus often urged his disciples, and all who would listen, to live life carefully. He counselled us all to make wise choices, and even though it’s not always possible to control our circumstances, he promised that trusting God will release his goodness and protection into our lives. So in every situation we can be calmly prepared for the unexpected.

More specifically, he forewarned us that one day God will intervene when he can take no more of the world’s evil and rebellious ways; that he will come again – as unexpectedly as a thief in the night.- to judge the peoples of the earth. So He urged us to be alert, on guard and ready for that time – a time that will hold no fears for those who have grown to know and love him as Lord and Saviour.