I had ridden my cycle through the small terraced streets and I pulled up and stopped at the junction with Wilford Road, which was a main road. As I was waiting for the traffic to clear I was a little pre occupied with the little shop on the opposite side of the road. I was debating whether or not to go in and get some sweets. I had just made up my mind that if I hurried I would have time. I checked the road and started to ride my bicycle across the road. I was about half way across when I saw this car heading straight for me. Where it came from I don't know, all I knew that it was heading straight for me.
At this point everything seemed to go into slow motion. I was peddling as hard and fast as I could but it felt like every second was taking about a minute. I was inching across the road and I could see the man in the car, the look on his face was one of shock. The man's facial features like every thing else were only moving in slow motion. I could see him almost lifting out his seat from standing on the car's brakes.
The next moment I was no longer on my bicycle but I was hovering about ten feet off the ground trying to see what was going on. There was a crowd of people all gathered round something that I couldn't see. It didn't seem at all strange that I was in this peculiar position floating above the ground. I thought I don't have time to stand around here I have got to get back to school. So I went into the shop. The man behind the counter was talking to a lady about the child that had been knocked down by a car outside. I thought well that's what all those outside are looking at then. I tried to get the shopkeepers attention but he acted like I just wasn't there.
Again I thought I better get back outside and ride back to school. I went outside and I could see lots of people still crowding round something. I recognized some of my schoolmates in the crowd so I went over to where they were. Remember, I was still hovering up high above the ground, and it still hadn't dawned on me that this was not my usual mode of travel. I got near my schoolmates and I could hear them talking. I heard one of them say my name they were saying that I was dead, that it was me that had been knocked down.
For the first time I realized something strange was going on. I went cold from head to foot and I became very frightened. I moved over the crowd I looked down and there I was lying on the road. I then saw a friend of my mother's she lived in the house on the corner of the road that I had come out from. I saw her walk from her house she was carrying a blanket and a pillow. They put the blanket over me as I lay in the road and the pillow they placed under my head. Now I was beginning to feel really scared. I suddenly realised that floating above the ground was abnormal. I knew now why the man in the shop and my schoolmates ignored me it was because they couldn't see me. My body was lying in the road not moving and I had some how come out of my body and was floating about. How I got out of my body I didn't know, I was beginning to panic, I didn't know what to do.
It was at this moment that I became aware of a being that seemed to be very big and made of light. The light that the being was made of was very bright, yet I could some how look at him and not hurt my eyes. This being just held my hand and said "Don't worry, your time has not yet come. Just wait with me a little while and then you will go back." His voice seemed to be like liquid love and I heard it not with my ears but somehow with my whole body. His voice was rich and deep and warm and so comforting and it seemed to fill my whole being. I held his hand and I felt so safe and secure.
There was no fear now; in fact I couldn't have cared less if my time had come. I was not at all sure that I wanted to go back. If at that moment I was asked to choose whether to go back into my body or go with this wonderful being, I think I would have gone with him. I was no longer in a hurry to go anywhere. I was content to stand holding his hand.
Then all of a sudden I seemed to be falling down what seemed to be a tunnel and I was back again in my body looking up at faces looking down at me. A ripple of relief went out as I opened my eyes and looked up at them all. The lady who knew my mum had put a hot water bottle under the blanket and I could feel its warmth. People were telling me to lay still. Then the ambulance arrived and I was carted off to hospital.
My injuries were not great; I had a broken leg and a bad concussion. I was out of hospital in a few days and back to school as soon as they took the cast off my leg. That day changed me. It made me a little more careful on my bicycle, but the real change was that I knew from that moment on that I had an allotted time.
Psalms 139:16 (Living) 16 You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book!
I knew that no only did I have an allotted time but I also had things to do with that time. I knew that God numbered my days and that I would not go one minute before it was my time. I knew that when that time came it would be fine with me. God is perfect and so are all His ways. God has plans for my life and they are good plans. That being was right my time had not yet come.