Robby Robertson
The Athens Review
Athens —
I had to write this column while it was fresh on my mind. I am a firm believer in God’s grace and protection in my life. At the age of 10 I accepted Christ into my heart and had the assurance that I was a child of the King and under His protection.
Never has that point been more evident than last Saturday night.
I was on my way out of town and driving down some farm-to-market roads. I’ll have to admit I was driving a little over the speed limit, but not much. But I was driving too fast for the dark road I was on.
All of a sudden, I thought to myself “you might want to slow down. There could be deer crossing the road.” Later my brother told me, not only deer cross that road but so do hogs most every night.
These are not roads I travel on very often, so I just wasn’t really thinking about animals crossing the roads. About five minutes after I thought about that and I had slowed down, two of the largest deer I have ever seen jumped in front of my car. It was too late to brake and I hit the second one and shot him 30 feet down the road and to the ditch.
I’ll have to admit I was stunned to say the least. I continued to drive until I came to a shoulder in the road and pulled over. All I kept thinking about was how I had been thinking slow down because I could hit a deer, and then I did.
As I sat there in the car in shock as to what just happened for a moment, I had to thank God for the warning. It was very surreal what had just happened, but more importantly was that I know it was God. If I had been going the speed I was, more than likely, the deer would have rolled up on my hood and possibly come through the windshield.
After I called for a tow truck, I called my insurance company to find out what I needed to do. I had not been in a accident since high school, so I wasn’t sure what the procedure was.
The lady at the insurance company asked me if I had recently made a change to my insurance coverage. I said I had. About two weeks earlier, I received a letter from my bank that they didn’t have a copy of my insurance policy. They told me to call and they would fax it to them.
I got busy and forgot to do it. Last Wednesday I remembered to call and I asked if they would fax a copy to my bank. They said they would and then the lady on the other end had a question.
She said “do you know your policy has changed.” I said I didn’t know that, I thought it just renewed. She said I only had liability coverage, and did I want to change it back to full coverage. She said there must have been a glitch in the system. I knew I had not changed anything when it renewed. So she changed everything back to full coverage.
After the accident when I was speaking with the insurance company, she said she was glad I had changed it back or the insurance would not have covered it.
It was God’s provision once again. I know I could have probably challenged the fact that I had not changed my coverage and they would have been responsible for it, but thank God I don’t have to do that.
There are so many times I forget to thank God for the little things He does for me on a daily basis – His constant protection – His unconditional love – His forgiveness. So much of that we take for granted.
I can promise you, I don’t think I will take it for granted any more. There won’t be a day that goes by that I don’t thank God for all he has done and is still doing for me.
He promised he would never leave us or forsake us, and I’m living proof he doesn’t. Don’t forget to take time to thank God for what He does for you. Things you don’t even know about.
Robby Robertson is a writer/photographer with the Athens Review.
