Guardian Angel or Crazed Driver?
Do people, particularly Christians, have a guardian angel? There are different thoughts and beliefs but in the end, I do believe in angels. I do not believe when we die, humans become angels. Angels are created beings by God. Can they intervene on behalf of God to protect us? I have no problem believing that. So here is my story of a possible angelic intervention back in 1994.
Some friends and I went to a concert in downtown Kansas City. I don't remember what band because if I recall it was probably some local bands at the VFW Hall. It was pretty late at night and I turned off of I-70 East to get onto I-435 South heading to Grandview, MO to drop my friend off. I am casually driving down the highway doing the speed limit. I wasn't in a hurry, so I am just cruising along when I saw in the rearview mirror headlights coming up on me really fast. I thought they were going to rear-end me on the highway, which would be ridiculous because there are open lanes. It's in the middle of the night and nobody is on the road. If they were in that much of a rush, they could easily drive around me. That did not happen. Instead I sped up to get some distance between us and them, and out of the way of what appeared to me to be a truck. Sure enough, they sped up and got on my tail again.
This kept up for another 10 miles or so. I would speed up and they would speed up. I even got in other lanes and they got in right behind me again. It was like they were trying to chase me down for some reason. I didn't remember cutting anybody off on the highway, so now this is getting a little weird. And quite frankly I'm starting to get a little concerned that someone has been riding my ass since I-70 and I-435. Approaching the Grandview Triangle, I get onto (what used to be called) South 71 Highway. They are still behind me. I had to slow down soon because our exit is coming up and it was a big circle doing a 180 degree turn to get onto Red Bridge Road. The layout now is completely different, but anyone who remembers this area know that Boots Williams Ford (the local wacky car dealership with Colonel Billy) was located right there at this exit and on local commercials it was described as Boots Williams Ford, located near that "Swingin' Red Bridge Exit".
This truck is still on my ass, bright headlights and all. As I get on that swingin' Red Bridge exit, they are still behind me but I have to slow down with a stoplight coming up. I take a left and looking in the rearview mirror, I no longer see the headlights. I even looked over my shoulder and nothing. No taillights going the other way, nobody turning into the convenience store that was right there. It was like whatever crazed driver was making me drive in excess of 80 mph down I-435 South just vanished. So I am relieved at that, and continue on past Grandview Road to my friend's house about another mile away. We talk a few minutes, probably about the concert and maybe what shows we want to see coming up. About 10 minutes go by and I head off back to my place. As I am driving east on Red Bridge Road about to cross Grandview Road, that I just passed a few minutes earlier, I saw a truck flipped over and another vehicle that obviously just nailed the flipped over vehicle. Horrible looking accident. There were already cops on the scene, so I continue on my merry way thinking to myself, "Damn, that must have just happened" since I passed this intersection about 10 minutes ago and there obviously was not a car accident when drove by earlier.
It wasn't until later I had a crazy yet completely rational thought. If that truck or whatever that was following me making me speed up, if that whole thing did not happen, I would have been driving at a normal speed, and because of that, that could have been my car in that wreck. The only reason it was not us was I was hauling ass down the highway with this truck aggressively tailgating me. So was it actually a truck with headlights in my rearview mirror...or, place dramatic music here...could it have been a guardian angel? Knowing that if we were driving at normal speeds, we could have been involved in that accident. So to prevent that, maybe God sent an angel to hurry my ass up, and flying down the highway had the effect of me driving by where that accident was, and while at my friend's house about a mile away, the accident happens, and I see the aftermath on my way back to the highway.
I have always wondered if anyone was hurt in that accident. Well, as I write this, I was just going through old issues online of the Kansas City Star seeing if I could find anything. Would it be in the paper? Did anyone die? I find a story in the November 13th, 1994 edition that stood out, "Red Bridge Road Collision - Woman Dies of Broken Neck". Oh no. That unfortunately answers that question. All these years I was hoping nothing bad ever came of that horrific accident I saw just a few minutes after it happened. Almost 30 years later I find out someone did die and they were the same age I was at the time, 23 years old.
What happened that night was Kenya McKeithen was driving home in a Chevy Blazer, probably the one that I saw flipped over, when another truck allegedly ran a red light at that intersection striking the Blazer on the passenger side and flipping it launching Kenya McKeithen out of the truck. She passed away at a nearby hospital. The driver of the other truck admitted to running a yellow light, was intoxicated, and was sentenced to year and a half in jail and a couple hundred bucks in fines. The irony is that Kenya was involved with Mothers Against Drunk Driving and did not drink.
So I don't know if that was a guardian angel protecting us by forcing me to speed up therefore missing the deadly collision, but if it was... Thank You Guardian Angel. Maybe it just wasn't our time to go yet. For all the snarky atheists out there who will say, "Where was her guardian angel?" Well, I don't have all the answers, and you should probably stop being a dick. It's a terrible tragedy for the family involved, and I still think about it to this day. I easily could have been involved in that accident. That could have been me.
Rest In Peace – Kenya McKeithen Livingston (1970 – 1994)
