Tunnel Vision - Does Prayer Matter?

Do our prayers matter?  What does ‘rule over the earth’ and ‘take dominion’ mean anyway?

This morning’s events forced me to meditate on the providence of God.  Big word, I know. 

It was 6 am on the Merritt Parkway here in CT.  Abruptly, I strangled the steering wheel as a silver Mercedes zigged off my rear bumper and zagged passed my front doing 110 mph easily.  

My first thought was the same yours might have been:  “Lunatic!  You’re gonna crash!”

Next was, “I hope the police nail this guy!”  Followed by, “You’re gonna kill someone!  

Although I was alone in the car, these audible outbursts (with adjoining expletives) were as uncontrollable as a rubber-hammered funny bone.

As I watched him maneuver his car as if he was playing a video game, I finally shifted into a more communal response: “Dear Lord, protect all these ‘other drivers’ on the road.”  That’s when God showed up.  

He said I love that driver too.  

I was suddenly and undeniably flooded with a sense of God’s pure, perceptible, and pursuing love for the driver of that car.  

Because he’s behaving lawlessly, do you think I love him any less?

With chest-heaving emotion, I began to pray favor, protection, and blessing upon that person — whoever they were.

With all of this happening in seconds not minutes, I approached the famous Tunnel in New Haven that burrows through the hills of West Rocks.  I watched the silver Mercedes thread needle after needle racing into the eye of the Tunnel.  

Then it happened. 

I saw a ghastly, high-speed crash in the middle of the tunnel.  Taillights were twirling, shrapnel was soaring, and crumpled metal scoured the narrow walls of the rounded tube.  

Stopped halfway through the tunnel behind a line of cars, I called my wife and told her what had just happened.  

I have to get up there and pray for people!

Little did I know, the answer to my prayers had already happened.

As traffic slowly moved past the impact site, I saw three totaled vehicles, including the Mercedes. My heart was racing as I carefully crunched my way over shards of debris and parked in front of the wreckage.  No one else stopped.

As I hurried to the first vehicle, I saw the driver was pinched behind the airbags of his pickup. The truck was totaled and one of its wheels was nearly 50 yards away. 

As I helped him out, we were both stunned — there was not a scratch on him.  In dazed disbelief, he listened to me tell him how I prayed for his protection as soon as the silver Mercedes blazed past me.  

It was nothing short of a miracle that this man walked out of his truck alive.

As I approached the second vehicle, I saw the driver had already emerged from his crushed egg.  Shaken and barely able to speak, he whimpered, “I’ve never been in an accident before.  I was just going to class.  I was doing at least 70 when he crashed me into the wall.” 

Without a nick on his cherubic face, he went on to explain his car was too old for airbags.  I put my hand on his shoulder and expressed to him how I prayed when the Mercedes passed me and that God saved his life.  He nodded in disoriented belief.

The crumpled, silver Mercedes was bloated with airbags but without a driver.  I looked to the north end of the Tunnel and saw a young man flailing his arms and holding his head as he talked on his phone.  

I don’t mind admitting that I was reluctant to walk toward him.  Is he a criminal?  Is he on drugs?  Will he attack me in a fit of rage?

But this is the invitation each one of us gets nearly every day; if we are paying close enough attention to perceive it.  

The glory in opening these divine invitations often reveals how woefully wrong-headed our basal reactions can be.  Because rarely is anything as it appears.

He could have been my son.  The boy was tall and lanky with jeans cinched low and wearing a hoodie.  Not exactly representative of an owner of a sleek Mercedes, but here he was nonetheless.

I asked him if he was OK?  With tears on his cheeks, he blurted:  “I'm late for work!  They told me if I was late one more time I’d be fired!  This is the second time I caused an accident!  I’m twenty years old and my life is already over!”

At this point, like Ash Wednesday smears of repentance, his white hoodie was covered in black soot from his anguished writhing against the tunnel wall.

I put my hand on his shoulder, just like I did the others, and said;  “Look at me, son.  You may not understand this right now, but you are standing in the middle of a miracle.  You should be dead.  Based on how fast you were going, all three of you should be dead.  When you passed me back there, I prayed for them.  And I prayed for you.  

Now, look!  You are all completely fine!  God saved you!”

I then prayed a father’s blessing over him.

This is something I have learned over the years.  There are so many young men and women desperately trying to make sense of their broken, painful lives for one primary reason:  They never received the blessing, protection, and discipline of a loving father.  

Regardless of how wonderful our mothers are, the absence of a father’s blessing can breed generations of orphaned spirits.

Your father’s blessing is greater than the blessings of ancient mountains or the desirable things of the age-old hills.

~ Genesis, Chapter 49

Without knowing a thing about this young man, I sensed he desperately needed a father’s blessing — so I prayed over him.

As the police arrived, I said, “Look at me, son.  You will never forget what God did here today.  I want you to apologize to the other drivers and tell them the truth.  And when you talk with the police, don’t spin the story.  This was your fault and nobody else’s.  Be a man and tell them exactly what happened.”

Wiping tears from his face, he nodded and agreed.  I went on;

And I promise you; God is going to use this to change your life.

On my 3-hour drive north, I listened to worship music and spent time wrestling with The Lord.  

Did my prayers make a difference?  

If I hadn’t turned around earlier in the trip because I forgot my contact lenses, I wouldn’t have been on that stretch of highway when that young man was threading needles.  

Did that matter?  

Couldn't the angels have taken care of this with the same outcome?  Better yet, couldn’t God have prevented the accident altogether?

Or, could it be that God needed someone on that stretch of road at that exact moment to pray? 

Did my prayers make a difference?  

In George Bailey-like fashion, I found myself gripped with the reality:  If I wasn’t there to pray for them, would we be reading about three dead motorists in the Merrit Parkway Tunnel today?

I was reminded of the creation account in scripture.  After fashioning man and woman in His image, the first thing The Lord said to us was:

Be fruitful and multiply.  Fill the earth and subdue it.  

~ Genesis 1

Subdue it.  It goes on to say that we are to take dominion over all of creation and every living thing.  Take dominion. 

I recently heard a bible teacher explain that God did not choose the angels to rule and reign over the Earth.  Nor did he grant the demons that authority.  

No, the only living beings charged with taking dominion on Earth are those fashioned in His likeness:  You and me.

One squishy phrase that often makes me squirm in these days of peril is, “God will do what He wants to do.”

Really?  Might His response be:  But I designed you to do it.

Did God see that three people were about to die in that tunnel?  Could it be that His eyes were searching for some willing image-bearer to step into their God-ordained role of earthly rulership and pray for a different outcome?

Trust me, there is nothing self-aggrandizing about any of this.  When the possibility of this reality begins to touch your soul, there is nothing more humbling.

I later learned this particular stretch of road is named The Heroes Tunnel and is the only tunnel in all of New England that goes through a landmass.

Sounds like something Jesus would do — when there doesn’t seem to be a way forward, our Hero makes a way.

May we all be aware of God's presence at all times.  May we all consider deeply and soberly what it means to rule and take dominion over our respective gardens.  May we more and more dare to accept the daily invitations to make a difference in someone else’s life.  And may we all find rest in the immense and eternal shalom of Our Loving Father’s blessing.

Of what importance is the human race, that you should notice them?  Of what importance is mankind, that you should pay attention to them?  You made them a little less than the heavenly beings.  You crowned mankind with honor and majesty. You appoint them to rule over your creation; you have placed everything under their authority

~Psalms 8

Be the one car that stops.