by Kelly Moran
for 16 August 1995
Authorities later said the accident began when a tractor-trailer traveling west with a load of bananas flipped over the guardrail into the eastbound lanes. Lyle couldn't stop the van. He and one other car plowed into the truck.
The driver of the other car was not seriously hurt. He managed to escape from his car. The tractor-trailer driver also managed to get out of the freshly mangled metal. He suffered only minor injuries.
The door of the Lemons family van was jammed shut. Casia, 14-months, was killed on impact. The others were entombed in the van, awaiting the eventual explosion.
Other motorists stopped. In fact, a large crowd began to gather. The black smoke was pouring from the wreckage. The crowd was unanimous; waiting for the coming blast.
Then tow truck driver Glenn Smith arrived. "Everybody was standing back, because they figured it was going to blow," Smith said. "They said, 'There's people in there!'"
"Well, I said, 'Get 'em out!'"
No one moved. Smith acted alone to approach the van. He connected a chain from his tow truck to the wrecked van. As he pulled it out, the tractor-trailer exploded in a fireball.
"Flames were everywhere," Smith said. "As I was backing up, it just kept coming after us."
When the smoke finally cleared, troopers credited Smith with saving four lives.
Although Casia had died, Lyle, Debra and their son Brandon, 8, were admitted to the hospital in fair condition. Alicia, 5, was not injured.
"A miracle," said Trooper Joseph Ruggeri. "It probably would have been a whole lot worse if he wasn't around."
That's us, pinned in the van. Trapped in our own meaningless lives. On a hopeless path for extinction.
Spiritually, that's where we were. There is no way that I could do anything that would enable me to escape my destruction in hell. Like the automobile accident, the sins I have committed have made it impossible for me to save myself.
And then our Savior came on the scene.
"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6-8)
Glenn Smith is a hero because he risked his own life for the people in the van. He didn't even know the Lemons family. That didn't matter. He took the chance and he very nearly paid with his life.
It is a tragedy that little Casia was lost. But without the actions of this hero, the whole family would be lost.
Indeed, it is a tragedy that some are Spiritually lost. Some wonder how God could do such a thing.
I wonder why he would give the life of his Son to save even one of us.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:16-17)
God, I praise your Son, my Savior.
Published weekly for 3 years, 46 weeks.
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All Scripture references are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version (unless otherwise noted).
Copyright 1995 by Kelly Moran.