08/20/2025
The Rabbit Took Flight!
December 1982, a serious blizzard descended on Denver. Winds rose to 50 mph and temperatures dropped to 35 degrees below zero. Malls and shopping centers became refugee centers as the city shut down. Roads were impassible and snowplows scarce. Four to ten-foot snowdrifts covered the paralyzed city. No one got in or out of Denver. The mayor panicked and ordered trash trucks to pack down the snow on city streets. But prolonged cold weather caused the slick snow to harden with potholes that caught drivers off guard and popped tires for 48 consecutive days. Denverites voted the mayor out of office.
But that day, Christmas, not snow, was on Joyce’s mind. Her family had a deposal business in Bailey CO that was forty-five miles outside of Denver. Once a week, she took her thirteen-year-old daughter Mel to Denver for her violin lesson. That December 23rd they also ran errands and picked up the red goblets that her brother had given her for Christmas. Then she turned her 1978 Volkswagen Rabbit onto highway 285 to head up the mountain.
In 1982, highway 285 was a treacherous two lane drive. Regular commuters had bumper stickers that read, Pray for me I drive 285. It had steep inclines, blind curves, rusted guard rails, and steep cliffs off the side of the road. Maniacal, hot shot drivers passed on sharp, blind curves that made for a white-knuckle drive on good days. But like most mountain folk, Joyce and her family prided themselves on being tough, but not quite the Jeremiah Johnson type.
God had in Mind how he would save them, but spending Christmas with family was on her mind. When snowflakes fell, she smiled and said, “Let’s put on our seat belts.”
By the time they reached Shaeffer’s Crossing, it was five o’clock and pitch black night. The blizzard’s whiteout made driving perilous. Joyce reduced speed to a crawl through the four to six inches of wet, slick snow. Instinctively, she hugged the mountain side of the road. Suddenly, the passenger front tire caught a rut on the side of the road, and the Rabbit took flight.
Anyone from Nebraska and the Midwest knows what it’s like to be in a car that spins like a top. Nothing stops it! Not brakes, the steering wheel, downshifting, or turning off the engine. Joyce’s car spun and careened toward the ravine on the opposite side of the road.
God’s peace filled Joyce, and she thought, Lord, are you taking us home? We are yours—whatever you decide.
Into your hands I commit my spirit;
deliver me, Lord, my faithful God (Ps. 31:5).
Joyce had loved and trusted Jesus since she was twelve years old when he saved her at a Nebraska Bible camp. Mel had accepted Christ before beginning grade school. They Both loved Jesus! As the car spun, God closed their eyes and ears. They saw or heard nothing until they landed at the bottom of the ravine. Then they opened their eyes and saw that somewhere in flight they had locked arms. They smiled in a stunned kind of way. Except for a bump on Mel’s head, they were fine! God had protected them.
“I don’t know if a car catches fire or not, but we better get out of here,” she said. They exited through the driver’s door, climbed up the mountain, and walked toward the light from the only house near the road. Before knocking on his door, she turned to Mel, “Look at me. Do I look alright?”
“Yes, but you don’t have your glasses on.” Joyce couldn’t see without her glasses!
Suddenly, a man opened the door and said, “Are you the ones who went down the mountain? We heard you roll over those boulders bigger than your car!”
Still in shock, Joyce stared at him and said. “I must go back to the car to get my glasses.” It made perfect sense to her!
“No lady, I have already called the state patrol, and they are on their way. Come in.”
Joyce grabbed Mel’s hand, walked down the road, slipped and slid around the humongous boulders down the ravine, and reached the car. Her perfectly fine glasses lay on the front seat. Then they climbed up to the road where a spotlight found them. A familiar voice hollered, “Joyce, is that you?”
The state patrolman was Kevin, the husband of the pianist at her church. She shouted, “Kevin, how do you get a car out of a ravine?”
“Don’t worry, Joyce. Come up here. My patrol care is at the house on the road. We will talk.”
Later, Joyce and Mel went to the salvage yard to retrieve Christmas presents from the car. Horrified, they saw that all windows had been blown out in the crash and all doors crushed. “There’s no way you got out of that driver’s door,” the owner said. He pried open the trunk, and they opened the violin case. The violin was a family heirloom, and they smiled at God’s grace. A fine line revealed one insignificant crack. Surely, the goblets were red dust! No, they were perfectly fine!
Soon after, the man in the house built a shed on the roadside where the Rabbit took flight into the ravine.
If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone (Ps. 91:9–12).
Sharon is a retired Associated Faculty at Denver Seminary where she taught Biblical Demonology. She writes and teaches on Christian discernment. She contributed to Zondervan's upcoming "Upside Down Kingdom Study Bible," edited by Preston Sprinkle and released fall 2024.
