Friday, June 8, 2012

Hero in a faded blue singlet.



When he was about three years old, my littlest brother Tain somehow got through our five-foot fence and started weaving across the New England Highway, pushing his little wooden cart between the steady stream of B-doubles and semi-trailers that came roaring down the bitumen at 110 kilometres an hour.

The first we knew of it was in the screech of swerving vehicles and the long, loud air horns of the big trucks. We raced from all the corners of our house, out of the gate and onto the highway, my mother, my sisters, my brother, and me. But Tain was away up the road and innocently unaware of the sickening danger. We knew we couldn’t get to him in time. My mother was already crying. And when she saw the next semi barrelling down the highway towards him, she couldn’t look. She turned away, covering her face with her hands.

Then a crazy thing happened. Someone ahead of the semi – a man travelling in a white ute – leapt out of the driver’s seat with the engine still running. His passenger had to lean across to take the wheel and steer the ute to the verge. Meanwhile this man, a tattooed stranger in a faded navy singlet, darted across the highway and through the traffic to my little brother. He snatched Tain up in his arms and held him there in the middle of the road while the whole cavalcade of death machines swerved and sped past. When he delivered Tain – smiling, chirping, oblivious Tain – to my near-hysterical mother, he told us he’d seen the small figure crossing the highway from way back. “I started screaming at the trucks to stop,” he said breathlessly, “only they couldn’t hear me. I knew the kid was gonna take a hit, and I thought: I can take a bigger hit than the kid. I just had to get to him.”

That was more than ten years ago, and I still haven’t found the words to accurately respond to that. In the form of a burly ute-driver with tattoos, Tain bumped up against amazing grace that day.

This Flashback Friday post is a snippet stolen from an essay I handed in for school today.

* * * * *


Conversations:

Amanda -- birthdays are never as amazing as I want them to be for the excellent people in my life, but I hope Mum had fun :D

Brenda Wilkerson -- it's very cool to have a mum who is also my great friend. I'm aware that it's a rare blessing!

Daphne -- hear, hear!

Andrea -- :D

Mothercare -- <3

Samantha R -- yay! Great mums are just the best.

Rebecca Simon -- don't you wish it was easier to say those potentially sappy things?

Andrea again -- I UPDATE NAOW OKZ??

21 comments:

  1. *whispers* Wow... I never knew about that. God is so good.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I never knew that either. What a blessing people can be!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I remember this... and I got goosebumps all over again reading it! Praise God for the random people through whom he works!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Incredible! Tears in my eyes as I imagine how you all felt and how AMAZING that dear man was and how Wonderful the Lord was to send this "angel". Love to you all x

    ReplyDelete
  5. That made me cry a lot.
    What an amazing guy.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Totally brings back all the memories and emotions! How can you write with such feeling? You must cry...a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow. What an amazing story of grace.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Okay. This makes me cry. God sends angels in many different forms to take care of his little ones. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Danielle, this is a beautiful, beautiful story. I want to tell it to all my friends. God bless that man.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow, what a powerful story!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Praise God for His guardian angels! Reading your account brought tears to my eyes - such a beautiful story of God's mercy.
    xxx

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow, Danielle! What a wonderful Heavenly Father we have! Praise His amazing grace! Tain is very special and I know the Lord has His tender eye upon Him. Thanks for sharing:)

    Sarah

    ReplyDelete
  13. This is amazing and so touching, Danielle, and must have been when it happened. God is so good, His eyes are on His little ones, and there are angels especially for each one of them.

    God sent His angel in the form of this brave man to save him. His mercies endure forever.
    God bless!
    P.S. you wrote it so evocatively as well <3. Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wow. Just wow.

    This is so beautifully written. I feel like I'm there. I had tears in my eyes when I finished. That man is indeed a hero.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wow... that brought tears to my eyes. What could have been... and then reading on how God saved Tain. That stranger was an angel and a hero!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Aww honey - your sharing of God's grace and a stranger's courage made me cry.
    Cara

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh my goodness, really?! That would have been so, so scary... I had to stop reading a couple of times to take the moment all in. SO intense! Praise God, He is incredible!!!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I remember hearing about this... wow... what a hero.

    ReplyDelete
  19. That's an incredible story! Thanks for sharing.
    Sarah

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...