Several years ago, during my first year of college I had a job cleaning banks, after business hours in Cincinnati, Ohio. To fit my schedule, I cleaned them late at night.

After one such evening, driving back to the college campus, my brakes went out. Fortunately, I was coming up to a stop light so was able to turn quickly into a parking lot resting the wheels of the car onto some logs used as a curb stop. If I ran all the way back using the driving route it would have been about 5 miles, so I decided to cut through some streets making it a shorter distance to run. By this time, it was after midnight, and I quickly noticed 2 men following me. Each time I made a turn down a different street they did the same.

As I looked ahead, I saw a police car with its blue lights on and decided, when I got to them, I would ask them for better directions. After they finished up with their domestic call, I did just that and they said to me, “young man what are you doing walking in this neighborhood this late at night. Get into this police car and we will take you to your college. This is one of the worst neighborhoods for criminal activity in the city. If we had not been here, there is a good chance you would have been killed or severely injured”.

I was really thankful for two main reasons: 

1. My brakes didn’t completely go out while I was at a higher speed, and I could have crashed into something or somebody.

2. That there were some policemen there in my path to rescue me from imminent danger.

David speaks of God’s protection in Psalms 46:1 where he says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble”.