God does here the prayer of a sinner

Twenty-years-old and as dumb as they come, yes, that was me. I was such a bright shining star. I was one of those guys that could not handle drinking alcohol by any amount of imagination. I was one of those guys who thought that it was okay to tell my girlfriend that I was going fishing and not come home for 3 days and didn’t own a fishing pole. I was one of those guys who thought it was okay to go out with my buddies at all hours of the night and leave my pregnant wife at home alone. I was the guy who would go through the whole range of emotions in the same night while drinking.

 I was the guy who on one wet, cold, fall evening thought it would be a good idea to take the family car, while drinking with my best friend and cousin on a ride through the back roads. “FYI back roads late at night on a weekend are not safe” A lot of people think it is safer for them to drive the back roads while drinking so they don’t get caught by the cops. There is not a whole lot to tell about this story other than what happened on one of many of the stupidest nights of my life.

I had been drinking a lot that evening and decided to take the family car and leave my wife and child a sleep at home. I went and picked up my cousin and best friend and off we went. It was cold and the roads where wet. As I was driving down the long winding road, I felt the car shaking as I rounded the curvy road. I thought for a moment, I am safe and then I weaved off the road again. This time I didn’t make it, I slammed on the brakes and propelled into a large oak tree. When I came to, there was nothing but silence and the smell of impending doom. I immediately tried to get out of the car, but it was so warped that the doors would not open. I looked to the left after trying to open the door and there was my best friend motionless face planted into the heater coil because the dash was gone. I shook my friend and yelled, “wake up wake up!’ He would not move. My cousin was in the back floor of the car, yelling, “I can’t move my legs, I can’t move my legs!” I crawled out of the driver side window and ran around to the passenger side of the car and my best friend was still lifeless. I prayed God please don’t let him be dead! Please don’t let him be dead! I believe God answered my prayer and he came to. [th1] 

My friend said, “what’s going on?” I told him that we were in a accident and we needed to get out of there! I scrambled around the car, ripped off the tag, hide the beer in the woods, busted out the taillights because they wouldn’t turn off. I then got my tag and fake insurance card and threw them as far as I could into the woods as I could. I was trying to get rid of any evidence that would tie me to the car. My cousin was yelling I can’t feel my legs, I can’t feel my legs! I told him he needed to get moving because we are leaving, and I can’t carry him. thank God he gained function in his legs and we left the scene of the accident. My plan was to make it to a phone to call a ride and report the car stolen. We walked about 5 miles in the cold drizzling rain. We made it to a payphone and called a ride. When we were on the phone a cop pulled up and we ran as fast as we could. We got away for the moment. My cousin didn’t run, but my friend that was bleeding from his face did. I circled back around close to the pay phone, hiding in a bush. I hid there so when my ride pulled up, I would see them. The cops picked my friend up a few blocks away and escorted him to the hospital. I passed out while hiding in the bush. I remember how cold I was and wishing that this was all a dream. Moments later the cops pulled up in front of the bush that I was setting in front of not hidden at all. The cop came over the loudspeaker and said, “Mr. Hamilton we know who you are get in the car!” I believe it was so cold they didn’t really want to get out in the cold rain. I got up, and politely surrendered with my hands in the air. The cop got out of the car at that point, opened the back door of the cop car and let me in.

They took me down to the local police station and started questioning me. I denied driving the car. I told them we picked up a hitch hiker and I let him drive because I was too drunk to drive. The cops said, that is a good story, but we don’t believe you. The cop said, “what we are going to do is not charge you with insurance fraud, if you confess to the D.U.I.”  The cops found the fake insurance card right beside your car. I confessed to the D.U.I. They told me that the charge was a lesser charge and it was, what they failed to tell me was they were going to charge me with leaving the scene of an accident which would cause me to be a habitual violator. I got exactly what I deserved. I am not proud of this part of my life but had to tell it, to let people know just how bad of a person I was, and that God can redeem us if we surrender.

Less than a year later my best friend that was with me, that I believe God had brought back to life, died in a fiery car crash. You my say no it was all a coincidence, but I believe God was saving me for a time such as this, to let people know that He does answer a sinner’s prayer. You have to know that I had been trying to get onto the same work shift as my best friend so we could party together more often, one weekend after my best friend died I got on his work shift, I would have been in the car with him that terrible night. [RN2] 

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 [th1]