Tuesday, July 05, 2011

The Guardian of Route 66

A few years ago -- quite a few actually -- while attending classes at what was then called Central State university, located in Edmond, Oklahoma, I had an unusual experience.

Actually it happened after class during the drive home. I was married and had a fulltime job, which left me attending night classes to continue my education. The duration of class was three hours, starting at 6:00 PM and letting out at 9:00. Since I was already out of class and on the way, the incident occurred between 9:20 and 9:30 PM. At the time, I was driving an old MG, which had a few annoying if not dangerous idiosyncrasies. One of the treacherous traits was a faulty light switch, which, on occasion, would cause the lights to go out.Toggling the switch in rapid succession brought them back on.

The trip home consisted of an eighteen mile drive, originating on East Second Street in Edmond. It was there, at the point where Second Street curves into Highway 66 that it happened. Just as I was about to enter the curve, I saw a man dressed in a robe, like that of an ancient Greek or Roman, and he was walking alongside the highway. That's when the lights went out. At the time, there were no houses, buildings or even streetlights located in the area, so when the lights went out, they went out. I was plunged into total darkness. My immediate concern was that, without being able to see where I was going, I ran the risk of running over the unusual pedestrian. I began to jab the dashboard until I found the light switch then continued to toggle the switch. Seconds later, when the lights came back on, I'd traveled a distance of about 300 feet, somehow successfully maneuvering the curve.

Fear shot through me as I brought the MG to a stop. No other cars were on the road and I saw no one in front of me. I quickly turned the car around. I had neither heard nor felt anything hit the vehicle, but I wanted to make sure that I had not hurt or possibly even killed the pedestrian. I saw no one. I went past the curve then turned around and drove through again. After that, I parked on the shoulder where the incident had occurred and got out of the car and searched the area. I found nothing. Later I would examine the car and find no damage.

As I continued the drive home, details of the event played through my head, and I began to wonder if perhaps I'd seen an angel, who'd brought me to an alert status, helping me to make the curve on Route 66 when the lights went out.

This is a true story. I'd love to hear about your experiences. If you have something you'd like to share, please leave a comment, or email me at bob@bobavey.com. You can remain anonymous if you wish.

5 comments:

Gloria Teague said...

I've had a couple of things happen in my life that I'm sure were celestial intervention. The first one happened when I was in third grade. When I was that age I loved school, having not lost my enthusiasm for school work and never encountering many bullies yet. I woke up each morning raring to go; the fact that surprised my mother when I woke one day and begged her to not make me go to school. I was too young to think of faking illness. Because this was such an odd thing for me, my mother followed her heart and let me stay home. At 10:15 that morning half the roof of my classroom caved in, due to age and harsh elements. Five students were badly injured, though none permanently, thank God. The side of the room with the most damage was directly on top of my desk. The school had to give me new text books because the roof collapse had destroyed the ones in my desk. That afternoon I felt as if a weight had been lifted from me, though I was too little to understand why or what it was.

bob said...

Thanks for the comment, Gloria. If you would like to post an exerpt from Beyond the Surgeon's Touch with a link to the book, that would be great.

Jackie King said...

When I was five, my mother taught in a country school. We had no car, and once a month a school board member would drive us to Woodward for groceries. As a special treat, mother left me, my brother and sister in the movie theater while she bought groceries. This was to be a special treat for us. But I was five and quickly got bored with the adult story. I tried to talk to my siblings, but they were both fascinated by the movie and ignored me.

Certain that Mother had gone home without me, I decided I'd just have to walk back to our little house. I struck out and walked for a until I was out of town. I was on a highway (headed to nowhere, no doubt) when a pickup stopped with two old men inside. After asking me questions, they turned around and took me back into town, where my mother was wringing her hands and crying in front of the movie theater.

Don't know if these were angels or not, but for sure they were sent by God.

carla stewart said...

These are fabulous stories! So many things are going on in the supernatural realm that I think it's a good thing we are "kept in the dark." With my four boys, I believe the angels put in some overtime.

My story didn't happen to me directly, but my husband and son. Max was driving James to our country school which is along a busy highway with heavy truck traffic. He slowed and put on the signal to turn right, but the truck behind them didn't slow and began passing illegally on the right. They heard the screech of brakes, and Max was sure they were fixing to be killed. Everything came to a halt, and when James looked out of his passenger window, he could read the words MAC on the front of the truck inches from his face. They both believe an angel or the hand of God spared them. And I, for one, am glad.

Maybe you'll collect enough stories to write a book, Bob!!

bob said...

Thank you so much, Gloria, Jackie, and Carla for sharing your stories. If you know of anyone else who has an angel or supernatural experience story, please send them my way.