Fireworks and Faith…

God on the Shoulder of the Highway…

It was New Year’s Eve… 1997 into ’98…
I had survived…
The year — I mean… I wasn’t sure I would…

The heart I have today…
was still shaping back then…
burning… crushing…
maybe it was the fireworks outside —
or maybe just my own…

There was a party that night…
at my friends’ house — Sam and Becky…

their place was always full of people…
I spent so many weekends there that year…
it was like my second home…

crazy nights… good nights…
we were all so close…

often I’d bring my guitar…
and we’d sit around until morning…
singing songs… drinking…
and sometimes… yeah… drugs…

I was on an intense champagne high…
I’d had way too much…
I normally didn’t get like that…
I could usually hold my own…
but not that night…

my plan was to crash there…
just pass out on a couch like always…

but around 3 am…
I had some words with a friend of mine…
she pissed me off…

so….. stubborn and spinning…
I grabbed my keys…
made my way to my car…
and decided to attempt the 45-minute drive
back to my apartment…

I honestly don’t remember much
about the first half of the drive…

I somehow managed to make it
onto Interstate 75 North…
and then everything just
kind of went black…

I remember hearing…
and feeling…
this repetitive vibrating —
a low rumbling sound…

I thought I was dreaming…
the sound just kept going…

finally… I opened my eyes…

the strangest moment…
still hard to describe properly with words…

I had passed out while driving…
slipped over
into the passenger seat
of my Camaro…

and my car
was still doing about 60 mph…
riding the shoulder of Interstate 75…
inches from the guardrail…

the sound I was hearing —
the rumble strip…
screaming at me that I was in danger…

I sat up immediately…
grabbed the wheel…
pulled myself back into the travel lanes…
just in the nick of time…

there was an abandoned vehicle
directly in front of me…
I missed it by only a few feet…

I was completely sober now…

I kept driving home…

I just couldn’t believe it…
I could have killed someone…
and almost killed myself…

then…
I had this powerful spiritual moment…

I felt a Presence…
a Holy Voice inside…

I don’t know how long I was asleep…
but I know…

someone had the steering wheel…

I was sure of it…

I talked with Him
the rest of the way home…

and somewhere
on that dark stretch of road…

I made my resolutions
for 1998…

`’.,°~

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