January 25 – “An Ice-pocalypse Episode”

Well, it did get awfully cold in Galveston over the last few days.  We ended up canceling home group on Thursday night because of the freezing rain expected.  Then yesterday we woke up to 28 degrees and a sheet of ice covering the cars.  Sleet.  Even a few snow flurries.  Schools were delayed for two hours getting started to give the old sun time to warm things up.  Sad to say, though, it never did get much above freezing all day.  People on Social Media were calling it Ice-pocalypse.  Houston was a mess.  Several of the freeway overpasses were closed down.  Wrecks everywhere.  Those Texans just don’t know how to deal with this wintry stuff.  Thankfully most people here in Galveston followed the proper course of action in dealing with winter weather … don’t.  Just stay inside.  I got a call at one point during the day from a Seasider who just had surgery.  He needed an emergency errand run for him because his entire deck was one massive sheet of ice.  It worked out pretty well, though, because I happened to be in the car when he called.

And there’s the next question.  What was I doing in the car when I knew all this craziness was happening outside?  Well, we got a call about one of the fire department’s safety trucks being involved in a rollover accident.  Not responding to a call about a rollover, now.  He was the rollover.  I was trying to piece together the reports as they came over my phone scanner when Nathan called.  He wasn’t on duty, but he happened to be driving near where it happened and stopped by to check it out.  He just wanted to give me a heads up in case I got a call later about the guy being in the hospital or anything.  That was enough.  I got my coat on (yes, my winter, Denver, ski coat) and headed over to the wreck sight.  I had to make my way through two police officers who were blocking the scene from each direction.  The first one asked if I would mind going through the other checkpoint.  He didn’t want to take any chances on getting into trouble.  The other guy let me through with no questions asked.  As I approached the scene I noticed someone walking in my direction.  That had to be one really cold individual.  Apparently the fire chief thought the same thing.  I saw his vehicle pull over and offer the person a ride.  He told me later that it was the photographer from the Daily News.  The gesture apparently worked.  The picture and story were essentially buried in a bigger story about the icy conditions in general.  Nice job, chief. 

By the time I got there, the driver was on his way to the emergency room.  It was just him.  No other cars were involved.  The roadside was very soft, and the truck just rolled over onto its roof.  I had pictured it rolling several times.  That was good news.  Well, not so much for the truck, but the fire fighter was doing OK.  He even managed to get himself out of the truck before any help arrived.  He had a banged-up knee and his neck was sore.  Everything looked good at the hospital, though.  It took a couple of wreckers to get the safety truck righted and on its way.  It really didn’t look as bad as I thought it might.  The roof of the cab was king of caved in, but everything else looked all right.  It all could have been much worse.  Looks like God is not done with that fire fighter just yet. 

Psalms 34:7 says, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.”

Father, thank you for protecting Jim yesterday.  Walk with him as he recovers.  Amen.