on Close Calls

Two recent events have brought to mind the close calls with death we all have every day. Tuesday night two Russian airliners fell from the skies. My friend T. S. Elliott is in Russia, and I was much relieved to see a new posting from him after that tragedy.

This morning here in Maryland a MARC train struck a dump truck near Buckeystown, MD, bringing service to a standstill. (I often ride MARC trains on this line as I commute to and from work.) By the grace of God all of the passengers escaped injury, and the truck driver is reported to have sustained serious but not life-threatening injuries. Based on the television pictures we saw, it appears that this train was (unusually) being pulled by two engines, instead of being pushed, as is common for southbound MARC trains on this line. If the passenger cars had been between the engines and the dumptruck, . . .

A little research on MapQuest suggests that I would not have been on that train: it was still several miles north-west of our home. However, it gave me yet another reason to be grateful for God's hand guiding and protecting me.