From the Archive

It was spring, and my family had taken a trip to my friend Andrew’s house in Buchanan, Michigan, for a visit. When we got there, his dog greeted us. When Andrew heard his dog’s friendly bark, he came out to see who was here.

“Hi, Auntie. Hi, Uncle,” he said to my parents. (Since we are Africans, we call adults Auntie and Uncle even if we are not related.)

“Hi!” we answered back.

My parents and my sister went to greet other people, while I stayed with Andrew. “Do you want to go ride bikes?” Andrew asked me.

I stopped to think. I had just mastered riding big bikes, but with a lot of scrapes and cuts. I didn’t want to get hurt again, so I stalled by saying, “How about we play Frisbee with your dog for a while?”

“Sure! But you’re going to have to use Abigail’s bike when we’re done playing Frisbee,” Andrew replied.

“And don’t ruin it!” Abigail yelled to me.

“OK!” I yelled back.

Andrew and I played Frisbee for a while. But it seemed as if barely five minutes later we had the bikes in our hands.

“Why don’t we race?” Andrew suggested.

“All right, but where are we racing to?”

“Just follow the trail,” he said.

“OK,” I agreed nervously.

We started the race. When we got to a point where we couldn’t see his house, I slowed down so that I was a couple of yards behind Andrew. I was afraid I would get lost. The scenery was nice, but it all looked the same.

We passed a white house, and my eyes strayed toward it.

“Watch out!” Andrew yelled. He had stopped, and as I passed him I wondered why he had said that. Then I saw the reason. Just a couple of yards in front of me was a small escarpment. The bottom was a good 30 feet below us. Going over the drop-off would certainly mean a long stay at the hospital.

I tried braking, but my speed and the terrain wouldn’t let me slow down. Just as I was about to go off the escarpment, the handlebars suddenly jerked to the left, and the bike stopped parallel to the escarpment. I got off the bike, walked back to the trail, and breathed a sigh of relief.

We resumed our race but spoke nothing of the event to each other. When we got back home—Andrew as the victor—we played Frisbee some more and then played tag with my sister, Monde. Now that I look back, I believe it was my guardian angel who turned the handlebars and saved me from harm. A verse comes to mind: “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:8).

I’m glad He didn’t forsake me the day I almost went over the edge.