One Banana Peel from Eternity

It was the morning of January 10, 2023. I woke up early, did a cold plunge, took a shower, and jumped in my Raptor. On the drive to Ames to meet one of my friends and business partners, I remember going through and thinking about the six areas of my life (like I always do on short or long drives). I took an inventory of my relationship with God, my marriage, my kids, my finances, my business, and my personal development. It was a normal morning.

As I pulled into the gas station looking for Zane’s vehicle, I realized I hadn’t been specific about which gas station we were meeting at. I called him, let him know where I was, and he left the station he was at and headed my way.
We drove west on Highway 30 en route to a customer appointment. We made a right turn onto a two-lane road and eventually came to a railroad crossing. As we approached, the crossing gate arms came down and a train slowly rolled through. And when I say slowly, I mean a turtle speed.

We checked the map and chose an alternate route. We decided to head west along the tracks until we could cross and continue north. It wouldn’t add any time to our trip, and we would make it to our appointment on time.

A few miles down the road we met the first, and only car we would see on that road. I saw it coming and noticed the car swerve ever so slightly, almost like it had hit a small patch of ice. The roads were clear that morning, so I thought it was odd. Zane and I were having a conversation about how sales were going and where we thought our numbers would end up for the selling season.

As I watched the car continue in our direction, it started to come over the center line. It was about 70 yards away, so I figured it would correct and get back into its proper lane. It didn’t. Now it was about 40 yards away and almost totally in our lane. My choices were:
  a. swerve left into the oncoming traffic lane (I noticed the ditch on that side was steep with trees),
  b. stay in my lane and hope the car continued into the ditch on my side, or
  c. take the ditch on my side, which was clear with a field beyond the smooth, fairly flat ditch.

I chose “c,” hoping the other vehicle would at least try to stay on the road and I could avoid a head-on collision. We veered into the ditch and the car kept coming. Just before impact, I swerved to the right, trying to swing my rear end around and somewhat miss major impact. It may have helped a little, I’m not sure. The Raptor and the Corolla collided. My front driver’s side hit her front passenger side. I estimate I was going about 40 mph and she was going about 55 mph.

Airbags went off, her car spun around and hit my rear driver’s side. When the dust settled, Zane and I both said, “You good?” We were both good. I have never felt adrenaline like that. I could have had a broken bone and wouldn’t have known or felt it at that point.

The physics of the collision created a scenario where my Raptor felt forces roughly equivalent to hitting a solid wall at around 40-50 mph while her Corolla took the brunt of the energy, experiencing a much more severe impact equivalent to hitting a wall at roughly 55-70 mph or higher.
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We exited through the rear passenger-side door, as it was the only one we could get open. We looked up at the Corolla about 15 yards away. We couldn’t see a driver. We scanned the ditch and field. Nothing. I said, “I’ll go check it out,” and Zane said, “I’ll call 911.” When I reached the vehicle, I saw the driver lying across the front seat. I ran around and opened the passenger door. She was unconscious with blood running from her mouth.

I held her head up until she came to. When she did, she was bewildered. She did not speak English, only Spanish, so there was really no verbal communication, but I gathered that her shoulder was hurting. The sheriff arrived quickly and took over. The ambulance came and rushed her off to the hospital. We later learned she had a shattered shoulder but would heal up and be good as new over time.

After some questioning, Zane and I caught a ride to the nearest town with some good ol’ Iowa boys who stopped to help out. As we crossed the road to get in their truck, approximately where the Corolla had crossed the center line, and I’m not making this up, we saw a banana peel lying on the yellow line. Man, God has a sense of humor.

So what happened? Why did she cross the center line? My guess is she fell asleep, but I will never know for sure. The only thing I know is that I am not done yet. It was a close call, but God gave me another day.

I recently read this mindset on procrastination: “Procrastination is not just poor time management. It’s the arrogant assumption that God owes you another opportunity to do what you had time to do.” Wow!

We don’t know which year, month, week, day, or hour will be our last here on this earth. Don’t take a day for granted. Every day is a gift.