Under the Wire!

My daughter and I were on the motorcycle, driving down a Haiti road to mark churches where we haven't yet visited to give Bibles. She was my spotter, looking for churches that were open for worship while I kept my eyes on the road. Coming to an intersection I saw two men standing in the middle of the road with their backs to me. People stand in the road all the time. But then I noticed one man was holding a broomstick. They both turned to look at us as we approached, and that's when I saw it, a black wire running from the telephone pole down to the broomstick in his hand. It was a live electric wire, and we were driving straight into it! 

There was no time to brake, hardly even time to react. I laid the bike down, and the wire came so close that it grazed the brim of my hat as we went tumbling. Any closer and it would have either taken our heads off or electrocuted us.
Soon as I got my feet under me I turned to find Abby who was still pinned under the motorcycle, trying to get her foot free. When I was a kid the same thing happened to me, getting a leg pinned under a motorcycle, and by the time I got the bike off of me, there was a white-hot blister in the exact imprint of the engine. It was one of the worst burns in my life, and that memory was racing through my mind when I jerked the bike up off of her, only to see there wasn't even a mark! 

I asked where she was hurt, and she said it didn't really hurt at all.

People came running from everywhere. An old man began ripping into the two young men for such a foolish act. They'd been attempting to steal the electricity from the lines.

I checked Abby out. She'd bit her lip and there was a tiny burn and scrape on her leg. My knee was bruised, but other than that, we were fine! My neck and back were jarred, but nothing was broken. I was mad at first, ready to clean some guy's clock, and he stood waiting to see what I would do. Because he wanted to steal electricity my daughter and I were almost killed.

The motorcycle clutch was broken along with some wires to the starter, the mirror and turn signal, but other than that, it was in running condition.
I remembered why we were traveling this road, to find new churches and to give the Word of God. I became immediately aware that until these young men crack their own Bible, my daughter and I represent that Word.
I told the man there would be no trouble. Besides, I could see the community was already thinking him quite the fool. 

I also told one man that when people are driving they aren't going to see a single bare wire. The old man was yelling the same thing in his ear. We turned the bike for home, shaken but grateful to still be alive. Abby was hugging me tightly and said, "Well, my first wreck on a motorcycle, and I'm so thankful it happened to us, Daddy. Right behind us there was another motorcycle with a woman and her little baby on her lap. If it wasn't us, it would have been them. Besides, maybe there was something further down the road that would have really hurt us, and God was just using this to keep us from it. When you go back out to look for churches, can I still come?"

Praise the Lord for His protection, and for this little 10-year-old who gets it so much more than I ever did.

Now, on to fix the bike... :)