I will tell you what I experienced, you can call it what you will. I will accept questions or proposed explanations but my feeling on the matter is; it was what it was, is what it is, will be what it will be.
I was driving east on I-26 on July 25, just past the I-95 exit in my 2000 Toyota. I was by myself and going around seventy-five miles an hour. I throw in that fact to let you know that it is highly unlikely that someone could stick their arm in the car and mess with the radio without me noticing.
It was around 5:30 or 6:00 in the afternoon and I had been traveling, counting a visit at my daughter’s in Spartanburg, since 10 that morning. I was feeling a little drowsy and considered calling Kathryn to clear my head. Instead, I started searching through the radio stations, settling on a NPR program talking about what happens to metal when you put it in the microwave. I found this show on 88.1 but moved up the dial to 89.3, where I got the same program on a station that I knew I would keep longer.
At first, the fellow was talking about putting a Klondike bar in the microwave while it’s still in the wrapper. Then, he started talking about how one can make “lightening in the microwave.” I heard him say it would be like the old Frankenstein movies as I put my head back on the headrest. I don’t think my eyes were open and I remember thinking that when he referred to the Frankenstein movies he was talking about how the monster was afraid of fire and the people would chase him through the woods with torches. Of course, I now realize he was talking about electricity jumping from one rod to another during a storm. But, I was kind of picturing torches in the woods, near a pond, in the dark, like one of the old movies with Boris Karloff that I used to watch on lazy Saturday mornings when I was a boy.
Suddenly, the radio switched to a song about God knowing the distance between the east and the west and the volume was a good bit higher. It was like the alarm radio going off. It startled me wide awake and I realized that I was either very close to dozing or was one short step from a long, perhaps very long, nap.
In the moments it took me to gather myself, I started wondering about the change from microwaves to a contemporary Christian song. I looked at the dial and it showed 89.7, the Christian station run by Columbia International University in Columbia.
Here’s my word on it. I had not changed the station and I did not turn up the volume. I was running around in the woods with Frankenstein and then I woke up.
I was able to retrieve the 3 comments to this postings.
Comment from: Kathryn [Visitor]
I believe God was gracious to you and the others on that stretch of road and woke you up! Thank you Lord.
07/26/09 @ 17:46
Comment from: Erin [Visitor]
I may have had tears in my eyes from laughing at your blog before, but this time I am really crying. Praise God!!
07/27/09 @ 10:08
Comment from: Tom Stalvey [Visitor]
I believe Vizzini would have said, “Inconceivable”. Seriously, I’m not sure what happened to cause the radio to switch stations. Any logical investigation into this happening would probably start with the question; “was the Christian station at 89.7 MHz one of your programmed stations?” If it was, we could postulate that you perhaps ran off the road and the radio was jarred causing it to skip to this station, which was probably next in the programming line (89.3 to 89.7 MHz) or could you have been in a dream-like state and subconsciously selected the Christian station or was it just a simple radio malfunction or… perhaps it was truly a gracious God protecting you as well as others around you. I guess we will never know the true cause, but I’m very thankful that it did occur. Let’s be practical here – who else could we get to write these entertaining blogs?
07/29/09 @ 10:08
I know I’m late on this, but you should have learned a few lessons from this situation, the first of which is NEVER TRY TO STAY AWAKE BY LISTENING TO NPR! Regardless of the content, the tone is not conducive to alertness.
Secondly, don’t expect God to keep doing for you what you should have done for yourself; ie, using the rest areas.
Although he always seems to do it, you shouldn’t take him away from concentrating on wars, famine, poverty, etc just to keep tabs on your napping schedule.
We’ve got a lot of training invested in you but apparently still have a ways to go.
Is successfully driving while sleeping the modern day version of walking on water?? Do we need to hire you a driver or get you a limo?
My Goodness! Bless your heart.