** THAT MIRACLE NIGHT

THAT MIRACLE NIGHT

A REAL LIFE DRAMA

for he that toucheth you

toucheth the apple of HIS eye

Zech 2:8

The Lord Almighty protects us

like the apple of his eyes

Praise the Lord,

this is a true expression of what had happened in my life, nothing distorted for any gain.

Though miracles were happening since my Childhood, I’d like to recall my memory about the one miracle which made me to think and to reverse my way of living.

Having lost my mother at six, followed by a jig saw life style where in I had to study seven schools to complete ten yrs of schooling, going from place to place like a gypsy.

Exploitation of the situation marred the very peace of mind and frustration of not getting things which was cherished the most and all these put together drove me to drift away from the very belief of God.

Thus an Atheist was born with a Christian skin.

Self isolation from the main stream of life and desertion of the family circle gave way for smoking, which always awaits to abduct the lost, so it crept into me, disguising, as if to give a feeling of comfort and then it went on to alcohol, as if to drain off the feeling of dejection or rejection.

Sixty cigarettes and almost a bottle of scotch each day became habitual, backed by a roaring business.

It appeared as if I was totally lost, but the angel of the Lord came in the form of my elder sister who made every effort to get me married.

The wedding was arranged and was to be solemnized within the next fortnight.

The next day I was back to square ‘A’ and as usual gathered at my friends place to have drinks.

I lifted up my cup and said CHEERS, without realizing that it would be the last Cheers with this group of friends.

As I was about to have my first sip of the day, I heard a very stringent commanding voice, crystal clear and audible only to me, “enough stop that”.

Agitated against the command, within my heart I whispered that “drinks were the only company I had and so I cannot give up” thus I continued to take my first sip and when I did, I felt why on earth I ever did so.

I felt that something was wrong with the drink and so I expressed my dissatisfaction with the taste of the scotch. Everyone disagreed with me, because except for me, the rest felt that the liquor was good and the party went on.

I was toying with my glass smiling sheepishly and tried to keep the party going by choosing to have a cigarette and when I did, I felt that the flavor of the cigarette too was not as usual.

My glass remained full till the end of the party and then I told my friends that I call it “quits” and said that I have decided to give up both drinks and smoking.

For them it was the century’s biggest joke, because going by the past records they knew that I will never be able to give up.

After bidding good night to all of them, I zoomed off on my bike.

While driving, I was pondering over the evenings episode and was wondering what on earth was going on.

I was so immersed in my thoughts that I suddenly found myself overtaking a 40ft high cube container trailer which was negotiating a blind curve on the Santhome highway, just opposite to St.Thomas Church and all of a sudden I saw another trailer from the opposite direction taking a very sharp turn at the same point of the 75 degree blind curve, completely blocking my path.

I was trapped in between the two trailers and was dangerously positioned, that if ever I want to survive, I had to stop on my tracks, at that very point, without keeping my legs down, because if I continue to overtake or keep my legs down, then death was certain, under any one of the trailer wheels.

Both the truck drivers did not realize my helplessness in spite of honking so loudly and therefore the truck drivers continued driving.

I have solo driven, more than 6000 km in a stretch of 30 days through cities and through rugged terrain, river bed and forests. The last day’s final lap of 600 km was covered within 12 hrs including around 2 hrs of break.

In another occasion, I have driven almost 150 km without head lights in a totally pitch dark coastal high way.

I was too good in balancing without keeping my legs down and without moving the wheels forward.

I realized that, now was the time to put forth every kind of driving skill together.

In order to get myself out from this “next to impossible spot”, I had to gather all my courage, skills and above all get the merciful hands of the Almighty, because, I knew that this was not a battle against flesh and blood, but against an unseen foe.

I realized that merely being too good at balancing will not save me and that Ineeded the Lord’s hand to do a miracle to save me from this situation.

I surrendered myself to the Almighty God and helplessly screamed “Jesus” and slammed the brake.

With my head looking straight ahead, I could see with my left eye the trailer which was driving up wards and with my right eye I could see the other trailer driving down wards and I could hear them go whizzing past me as close as an inch or two on either side. I was holding on to my breath and it appeared that it took too long a time for the trailers to go past me. And I was standing practically STILL at the point were I slammed the break, with my legs firmly on the foot rest

The moment, the truck which I was overtaking went past me, I dived on to its track and drove from the rear of the trailer, to the extreme left end of the road and stopped the bike.

As I was looking back at the spot where I would have been pulverized, which reminded me of two movies that of mad max and that of the chariot race in Benhur.

With my eyes flooded with tears, I was thanking and praising Jesus with all my heart and soul, which was constantly bubbling from the bottom of my stomach.

And that was an unbelievable double miracle happening with in hours between the first and second miracle.

I drove back home and had a very peaceful sleep. I knew that I was surrounded by angels, the Chariots of Fire.

When you say goodbye to the devils kingdom, he will be after you and that’s when Our Lord fulfils His promise “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee” because “he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of HIS eye”

The Lord was merciful to me and to my fiancée, Minnie Johanna, who was far far away, peacefully sleeping or perhaps dreaming about our forth coming wedding, knew nothing about what had happened on that Miracle Night.