Ever wonder WHY things happen the way they do?

[RowdyRebel]

So yesterday things were going pretty good...making decent time...depending upon what my dispatch would be for today, I Might be home with plenty of daylight left to get a little more done on the horse trailer. When I was loaded with my last load, I called in for my dispatch...if I was starting out over near where this load was dumping I'd just take it home (25 extra loaded miles, but saves me 100 miles bouncing home only to go right back up the way I came to start my next day). Dispatch wasn't ready, so I drove to the fuel stop right where I'd head west to deliver or south to take 'er home and tried again. STILL wasn't ready...so I headed south a little ways and then cut over east to the yard...which let me drop off last week's paperwork and it is also the farthest I could go before making the decision to deliver or take the load home without adding any miles to the trip (it only adds time, since this route to deliver goes through some towns with red lights instead of mostly following the interstate. STILL no dispatch. So, I sat around shooting the bull with another driver for a while until he called dispatch...then he handed me the phone and I FINALLY was able to find out what I'd be doing today. To say I was pissed would be an understatement...I could have been dumped off & nearly home by then had my dispatch been ready earlier. In hindsight, I guess somebody that knew more than me thought I needed to be somewhere else, though. I seemed to get stopped at every red light going through the next few towns...I just couldn't catch a break. Finally, in the LAST red-light infested town, I thought it strange that nobody tried jumping around that loaded truck before the lane ended and we got to the hilly 2-lane road on the other end of town...but amazingly enough, they didn't. I had JUST got up to speed when I topped a hill and saw brake lights and then 4-ways come on about a mile or two up the road over another hill or two. There was also a truck coming the other way with his 4-ways on, and the vehicles were far enough apart I could tell SOMETHING had just happened, but I couldn't see what because it was dark by then. I started slowing down gradually, and topped that last hill about 20 mph to see a truck jack-knifed in the road. There was a car down the embankment that had been going the other way that had crashed into the rear drive axle of the jack-knifing truck. It looked ugly. The truck driver was shaking real bad and was visibly shaken...understandable considering he thought the people in the car might be dead. There were others down by the car...people who'd been behind the truck and the guy from the car ahead of me that had stopped with his 4-ways on. I went down to check on the people in the car for the driver and they were amazingly enough OK...a little banged up, but the airbags did their job. I went back to relay the good news to the driver. There was a lady there by then who had been in front of the truck and saw what happened. A deer ran out in front of the car ahead of her and that car stopped dead in the road. She was able to get stopped. The truck was empty, though...when he tried to stop, he locked 'em up and just slid...the fact That he was going downhill didn't help matters much. As the trailer pushed the back of the tractor across the yellow line, he steered towards the ditch to try to keep out of the oncoming lane...but that oncoming car hit him. I tried keeping him busy...had him grab his worthless disposable camera and start taking pictures...figured if he's doing something it might help calm him down...but with how bad he was shaking (and it was dark out) there's no telling how those pictures will turn out...so I pulled out my phone and just for S&G snapped a pic. It took remarkable pics given the poor lighting, so I made sure I had all of the pics he'd need and gave him my card to pass on to his boss. He's a local guy on his way home from the daily coal haul...might have passed him 1000 times...anyway, everyone was OK. When the road opened up again and I got to thinking about things, I can't help but wonder about things. Despite how upset I had been about dispatch causing me to be running so late, I was right where I was supposed to be at that moment. I don't particularly like to be all preachy and crap, and I know most of you probably don't come here looking for religion...but what they say is true: The Lord works in mysterious ways. We may not always know WHY something is happening or what His intentions for us might be until after an otherwise unexplainable course of events has placed us right where He needs us to be and after-the-fact we're left sitting there reflecting on our prior thoughts and attitudes...and I'm really not exactly sure where I'm going with this, so I'll just shut up now & go get the truck fired up for another day behind the wheel. Be safe out there people.

[mack mhe9]

The Lord works in amazing ways.

[thomastractorsvc]

yes sir he does!

[41chevy]

You were one of Gods footsteps yesterday. Paul

[Freightrain]

Okay, in line with "things happen for a reason"............

A buddy of mine, retired, purchased a diesel pusher motorhome and a new two car stacker trailer. He and wife are going on the road and go to some west coast race tracks. Something he always wanted to do. He is 70 yrs old and decent health. They have been working on the details and getting ready to roll the last month. He has had issues with motorhome(used) and kept taking it back to dealer to fix things. Nothing serious, but he is pretty finicky and wants it "right". A week ago Monday he wakes with chest pains and goes to doctor. He ends up getting two stints put in Tuesday. Now, he had open heart about 16 yrs ago and found out that it is usually good for about 10 yrs before usually needing more fixes. He made it 16 yrs without fuss. He was to leave over a week ago to head out to west coast, but since he kept dealing with dealer they stayed home. Good thing. Dealing with a stroke on the highway is not a good thing.

I stopped over Sunday afternoon and hung out in the garage with him for about 2 hours. He was feeling pretty good. They are now leaving after Xmas. He did mention that he won't be selling his home right away. They may find that living on the road is not all that it is cracked up to be. If he gets a year in and runs a few places he wants to, then his bucket list will be all checked off anyway. He can come back home and sell off the big motorhome and step back into a gasser class A like he had.

I find that many times I want to get mad about situations. Then after the fact I find that it happened that way for a reason. And usually a pretty good one at that.

[Mack458]

I have had two friends in the last few years where God watched over them. One guy wrecked a new work truck (pickup) on his way to socialize in Philadelphia. Bad wreck but able to walk away with a shattered wrist. The medics take him to the hospital and they do a chest X-ray to check his lungs. They find early cancer and treat him with success. Another friend has a back problem and they scan him only to discover bladder cancer. Treated by surgery and all is well for now. I don't worry about being late or going home because I forgot something. God may want me to avoid something by being late, or as in RowdyRebel's story, there for someone else.

[RowdyRebel]

I'm amazed at how far technology has come...wasn't all that long ago any cell phone pic anyone shared would be accompanied by an apology for the "crappy cell phone pic". THIS was taken at night with my Blackberry Q10: