Last Saturday, I went with my family to the Playmill Theatre in West Yellowstone, Montana. Over the last few years, it has become a tradition to see at least one play there every summer. This year, we saw “Anastasia.” I ended up driving on the trip home, and along the way, I encountered tender mercies from the Lord.
Setting the Stage
We ended up leaving West Yellowstone around 9:30. For much of the trip from West Yellowstone to Idaho Falls, there are wooded areas along both sides of the road. It was dark, and some of the areas have mildly winding roads. Because of this, visibility wasn’t always too great.
Just before leaving West Yellowstone, we’d gotten ice cream cones. The rest of us finished ours before taking off, but my niece, who is 6, still had some of hers left when we got in the car. After a while, the ice cream started to melt. She decided she was done with it at this point. I pulled off the road at a gas station (probably the last one for at least half an hour), threw the rest of the cone in the garbage, and got back on the road. Several cars that would have been behind us were now in front of us instead. This is where the tender mercies began.
Soon after pulling back on the road, I became the final vehicle in a four-vehicle caravan. The front vehicle was going slightly under the speed limit most of the way. I soon became grateful for that vehicle leading the way.
A Close Encounter with a Deer
Because I was driving through a wooded area, it’s fairly common to see deer along the side of the road. About the time that I joined the caravan, I encountered my first deer of the night. It was standing almost on the road. When I say, “almost,” I mean if I’d gone over the white line on the side of the road, I likely would have hit the deer. I’ve never driven that close to a deer before in my life. If I were to guess, I would say that it was probably about a foot to maybe two feet away from my car as we drove by it.
As we drove a little farther along, it hit me how close we were to having a collision with the deer. That really would have been horrible. I was grateful the deer hadn’t decided to dart into the road at that moment. I was grateful I hadn’t swayed out of my lane at all. It was a huge blessing that I was able to recognize right away.
Brake Light Warnings
Soon, I began to notice that every few minutes, all three vehicles in front of me would suddenly press on their brakes. Sometimes, it was to slow down before a curve. Other times, it wasn’t as clear right away why they were slowing down. As I got to the place where the the driver of the front car had pushed on their brakes, a couple of times, I noticed a deer or deer standing between the trees and the road.
After a few brake incidents, the drivers of the two vehicles between me and the lead vehicle must have gotten annoyed with the person’s slow driving. When there was a chance to pass the vehicle, they took off quickly. Maybe, they didn’t realize that our lead vehicle was actually one of the tender mercies of our trip. He was acting as our protector, warning us with his brake lights that something potentially dangerous was about to come up.
Looking back, I see the parallels between the driver of this vehicle warning us of upcoming danger and our church leaders warning us of potential danger. I also, though, saw the whole experience as a series of tender mercies, which at the time could have felt like setbacks. If my niece’s ice cream cone hadn’t started dripping, we probably wouldn’t have pulled off the road. If I hadn’t pulled off the road, I probably wouldn’t have had someone in front of me, leading the way. The bigger vehicle with the wider and clearer view of what was to come would not have protected me from any potential deer dangers. For that, I am grateful.
Tender Mercies from a Car That Keeps Slowing Down
This experience reminds me of another driving encounter that happened several years ago. It was around Thanksgiving. It was pre-COVID, probably 2016 or 2017. We’d driven somewhere in another part of the state. My car does not have cruise control, and I kept falling below the speed limit. I’d speed up and hit the speed limit. Then a few minutes later, I’d be going below the speed limit again. This kept happening. It was frustrating. I can usually maintain my speed better than that.
About an hour from home, we suddenly hit standstill traffic. I was annoyed. It had been a long day. I just wanted to get home. After waiting a little over an hour, traffic finally started to move.
As we drove by the accident, it looked pretty bad. I think it was a day or two later that I found out what had happened. A semi, coming the other direction had lost control, coming all the way across the median. It had crashed into a car, causing a head-on accident. I can’t remember the exact details, but I think at least two people in the other vehicle died.
I Was Protected
This is one of those moments that can be added to my list of tender mercies. If my car had maintained the speed that I wanted to go, I likely would have been around the location of the crash when it happened. Not being involved in that crash or seeing it happen was an amazing blessing. I believe Heavenly Father slowed down my car, making it so I would be a safe distance from the crash when it happened.
At the time, I wondered why He didn’t allow me to go just a little above the speed limit. If that had happened, I would have been in front of the crash when it happened. I wouldn’t have had to wait. I could have made it home at a good time. Sure, that would have worked. I still would have been safe. Yet, I wouldn’t have seen God’s hands in my safe trip home. Having experienced what I did, I can look back and see how Heavenly Father was there protecting me.
Lessons Emphasized
Maybe, the first lesson learned from these tender mercies is to slow down. In both cases, going a little below the speed limit may have saved me from a pretty serious injury or death. While that lesson to slow down can be taken literally, it can also be taken a little more figuratively. Sometimes, we need to realize that we can’t accomplish everything. Instead of trying to achieve everything, we need to slow down and focus on the most important things.
I think the second lesson is that if we are trying to live righteously, Heavenly Father will provide us protection when we need it. It may not come in the expected way, though. Sometimes, it’s spiritual protection in the form of promptings to do something or not to go to a specific place. Other times, we might be physically protected. Often, we don’t even realize how much we were protected. At times, the protection might even feel like an inconvenience. Who knew a trip to a gas station garbage can to throw away a melting ice cream cone could lead to physical protection from hitting a deer?
