Day Fourteen

Our family used to take a week +  vacation by going to a great friend in New Jersey to stay and visit with her family and go to the ocean for a few days, then drive home and repack for a grand cabin extravaganza.  It is quite a chore packing for a large family and getting all of us into the suburban around 10 pm at night, and only then starting to drive to the ocean. It can be a daunting task for a mom, but that was our routine. So- off we went in the dark of night towards the shore. However, a little over  an hour into the trip we experienced an incredible event.  In Philadelphia near the Walt Whitman Bridge, my husband observed a car driving exceptionally erratic and traveling at a high speed as it passed by us.  ( For any of you familiar with my hubby's driving patterns-you know that means  F A S T !!! )  Joe was startled and was "ooooohing" and "oh my goshing", which grabbed my groggy attention. We both proceeded to watch as this car almost smashed into another car, but narrowly missed by instead slamming into the cement median and proceeding to slide semi-sideways down the road before crashing and setting off sparks.  It was a WILD SCENE and our adrenaline was pumping.  We got to a safe stop just before the crash and pulled off the side of the road.  Instincts and training took over for us both as we called 911 and proceeded to do our jobs.  Joe checked out people medically, and I used a flashlight and directed traffic to keep from further incidents occurring as car parts were strewn all over the road.  About 60 minutes went by and professional help was on the scene, we had given our accounts, and off to the ocean we went.  Exhaustion set in and it was the middle of the night till we got settled in with our friends.

The next morning I realized I couldn't see my watch and rings in my gear. I searched during the course of the next few days looking thoroughly in the car and throughout all our suitcases, but NO WATCH OR RINGS!  I was bummed and very upset with myself, but tried to apply grace knowing in our frantic rush to leave home I must have taken them off right before leaving and forgotten them there.  I would find them when we drove home to switch gear before leaving for the cabin. But when we got home and I looked-NO RINGS OR WATCH BAND!!! I only searched for about 30 minutes knowing we wanted to head to the cabin, and I would find them in our bags while at the cabin, back at home after we got back from vacation, or my friend would find them at her home in New Jersey.

Alas.... Days went by, vacation came to a close, everyone checked-rechecked, and checked ALL THEIR GEAR AGAIN, and still no wedding band or rings to be found. Home from the cabin and by now about nine days had elapsed since my last sure remembrance of wearing my watch and rings. I felt embarrassed, stupid, like I totally disappointed my husband, and sad to have lost something so valuable emotionally and financially!!!! My hubby was kind, but I could tell he was so sad too.  More days went by and all along we had been praying, but no watch or rings in sight.  Finally, about a week after being home, our whole family was sitting in the living room talking and a wave of sadness and shame swept over me. I excused myself back to the bedroom to take a shower, (cry by myself without others knowing).

In the shower I asked the LORD  to please show me mercy and to give me a picture of when or where I lost my watch band with my rings attached to it. Within a few minutes I saw this mental picture of us being in Philadelphia at that crash scene. I saw myself jump out of the car and my watch and rings falling off my lap onto the side of the road.  That made sense, it could be...

Quickly I came bouncing out to the family and interjected into the lively conversation that I think GOD just showed me where my rings were. I gave a brief description, but literally it was as if NO ONE cared or believed me. Talk went right back and I dejectedly ignored my own thoughts too.   But someone who loves me VERY MUCH, someone who believes in me when I say I think I hear GOD, was listening attentively!!!

I got up the next morning for church, came into the bathroom to see my husband smiling from ear to ear and humming while he was shaving.  My mind was quite inquisitive by now because my hubby just couldn't stop smiling.  He asked me to guess where he just came from.  "Dunkin Doughnuts, NO!", and  a giggle. "Evergreen for breakfast?"  "No!" I then told him I had NO IDEA, to which he said, " Philadelphia."   "Why would you get up extra early to drive to........  You didn't?"   " I did,  and look what I found just like you said!!!!!"  Then he held up my watch band with my rings attached onto it! "I listened to Phil Keagy's greatest hits and prayed the whole time driving down believing I would find the rings!",  and indeed he did!

My faithful husband drove all the way to the exact location of the accident, which was still fairly easy to find due to the major damage and skid marks on the median, plus the accident had taken place right before entering the pre-ramps to the bridge area. We had had a few storms during the nearly two weeks since the accident, and a horrendous flooding torrential downpour just three nights earlier which had soaked the entire region including Philadelphia!  My JOE got out and looked up and down the road and sides where we had parked. No rings. He searched and searched. Finally, believing I HAD  heard GOD correctly, and believing He was supposed to drive and find them, Joe prayed more as he made his last ditch attempt to locate that watch and ring set.  He decided to walk about 50-100 yards further than where we were parked and to look down into the very last sewer drain on the highway before the ramps-literally the last one.

He peered down into this deep drainage area through the bars and spotted something glittery and reflective hanging onto the bottom of a small tree branch whose others end was caught at the top of the grate.  YES - YOU READ CORRECTLY!  Many yards from where we stopped, at literally the last drainage hole, hanging onto a tree branch, that was stuck in the sewer bars,  hanging ever so fragile, after torrential downpours and weeks elapsing  WAS MY WATCH BAND HOLDING MY RINGS!!!!!!!!!  Joe gently grabbed the branch and wiggled those rings and band into his hand!  My husband recovered my keys-ya know- the ones JESUS or some angel placed just perfectly for him to find and recover!!!! Now as Eagles fans we love the "Miracle at the Meadowlands", but from the time my husband found my rings on, we refer  to this event as the "Miracle at the Vet" (former Eagles stadium). So what's the miracle.... That we were there late to help people stay alive and keep others from an accident, seeing or hearing from GOD mentally to know where to look, hearing from GOD to expand the search area, or actually finding the watch band and rings after such bad weather and a long time? You tell me...

Story by Marilou Strangarity