Black Ice Miracle

A Miracle - Lady Luck – Supernatural Happening – Whatever you want to call it, one always go back to where credit is due, and that it truly is a miracle of God. Some things just can’t be explained in any other way. In 79 years of varied experiences of life, raising a family of 6 children, and being a pastor’s wife for 35 years, it has become very evident that God is a miracle-working God and that both this pastor’s family and the churches have been privileged to be participants. It is exciting and rewarding to read of all the miracles in the Bible and listen to testimonies of miracles in people’s lives, but actually experiencing an unexplainable happening is beyond explanation.

The February 5, 1976 edition of the Clearwater Tribune had an article entitled “Car Rides Guardrail.” Because of the driver’s unconsciousness after the first impact of the car slamming into the guardrail, most of the facts have had to come from other sources.

One Saturday morning there was a scheduled practice in Lewiston, Idaho for a teen “Yes” choir practice. Highway 12 from Orofino, the starting point of the trip, to Lewiston followed very closely to the Clearwater River which was in its ice-breakup stage, which meant it was crowded with huge chunks of ice, some as large as a car. Following the many curves of that highway, there suddenly appeared a shaded area that was evidently covered with black ice. Before anyone knew what was happening, the car and passengers were in the merciless hands of a dire situation.

Since this was before seat-belts were mandatory, both occupants of the car were crunched under the dashboard of that Subaru sports car. This alone was a miracle because after seeing what happened to the car, no one was expected to be alive. No one knows what hit the driver’s head, but it was soon found out that the steering wheel did a lot of damage to the defenseless body. This is what the newspaper article had to say: “….. a 1975 Subaru being driven west by DeLoris Flowers went out of control on ice about three-tenths of a mile east of Lenore. The car struck a guardrail, bouncing on top of it and sliding about 60 feet on top of the rail before rolling off onto its top and sliding about 100 feet on the highway. After the car came to a halt Mrs. Flowers and her only passenger, a daughter, Joanne 17, climbed through one of the car’s shattered side windows……..”
While slowly trying to regain consciousness, Mrs. Flowers heard a faint sound of a voice saying, “come on, mamma. Let’s get out of here.” About this time she had a very vague sense of seeing a spot of grey movement that somehow was followed out of the wreck. It was her daughter Joanne in the new grey coat she had gotten as a Christmas present. There is no recollection of getting out of the wreck, but obviously it happened. The driver’s world was swirling, even the wheels on the upside-down car were still spinning. A neighbor on the hill saw and heard the wreck and called for help. According to the newspaper, there were 6 more accidents within a quarter of a mile of each other. The Subaru was just the first.

While sitting in the patrol car waiting for help, the officer looked in his rear-view mirror and he was heard to say, “There goes another one.”

The miracle – well – the car could have easily fallen into the river side of the guard rail from which there would have been no escape because of the movement of the huge ice chunks. The car and passengers would have been swallowed up in a hurry.

The doctor warned that there would be extreme pain for a long, long, time and during the healing process, which truly turned out to be a very long, long time, it was very evident that the doctor knew what he was predicting. The driver’s head and whole body hurt to the extent that pain pills could not stop the misery. There were pains in parts of the body that normally one would not even know existed. What happened to Joanne? She had some minor cuts in her hands and that is all. The steering wheel couldn’t get to her and she remained conscious the whole time. She recalls looking “up” from the vehicle as it swirled upside down on the icy road seeing the guard rail going past, then no guard rail, and then the guard rail again, and she watched this scenario until the movement stopped and escape was made possible.

There can be no other explanation other than a miracle and that God had other things in mind for a mother and daughter.

I would have to say I qained a lot for myself and my family. (1) lots of patience and waiting for God's timing and not mine during the 6 months of recuperation. Loss of time. (2) an understanding of other people's problems that are out of human control. When they seem to lose. (3) God's time table and road map are not necessarily what we would deem important. Loss of priorities (4) God gives and takes as He sees best. God took our two and a half year old grandson in a drowning, but He let us keep Joanne. I don't know how to really explain that I have a firm belief that what we consider a loss, is actually a gain for us and for God. "Loss" is a word that is always up for interpretation.

I might add that there was a bit of fun during that time - I was nick named Evel Knievel for having road the guard rail for that long before falling off.
Dee Flowers