We left Ceredo, WV (where I was preaching at the time) after services Wednesday night, July 27, 2022, on our way to Hot Springs, AR where we intended to spend our 15th year wedding anniversary. My wife is so special to me and she has blessed me with 5 beautiful children. This was going to be a special time for us. We have never really celebrated like this before, nor had we ever gone anywhere for an extended period of time without our children. I was driving through the night that we could drop the kids off with my in-laws (Tim and Robin Kidwell), and then on to enjoy some time with just my wife.
I was so excited as I was driving. Originally I had planned to leave that Thursday and drive us there, but I was too excited to wait. A few days before we decided that I would drive through the night. This was always nice as children slept I could catch up on listening to podcasts and books that I have great interest in. Everyone was sleeping except for me.
I had been glancing out the window at a beautiful cloud formation and almost woke my wife up to let her take a look. I knew she needed rest so I drove on. Moments later I had taken another glance and as I turned back around a semi-truck was pulling back on the road with its flashers on. We were probably 25 yards from the back of the truck which was completely on the passenger side of the vehicle. I was able to swerve to the left to avoid collision, but the sudden movement caused most everyone to wake up and start screaming. I remember saying, “I’ve got this.” It wasn’t the first time I had to get us out of a swerve to miss some kind of hazard, I had been there before. This time I didn’t have it.
I felt like I was about to get things under control, but just as I thought that was about to happen the wheels on the right side of our car popped off, hub and all. [The following info is pieced together from witnesses and our family]. Somehow we were launched into the air and my head broke through the drivers side window. We were starting to roll and I opened my eyes just enough to tell that my head was about to make contact with the road and there was nothing I could do about it. I remember thinking something to the effect of “I guess this is it.”
The next few moments were later relayed to me by Autumn. As our vehicle rolled Autumn said the only thing she could think to say was, “I love you Lord.” The children shrieked in terror and I lay in my seat tossed like a rag doll. Autumn said we rolled 4-5 times before we landed upright on the interstate. Eyewitnesses attest to this fact as well. Eyewitnesses also told us that the semi-truck waited for us to stop rolling and then drove around us to go on his way (we have prayed that this man comes to the Lord some day - the Lord has blessed us so richly).
I remember opening my eyes and realizing that I hadn’t died, but also realizing the car was completely silent. Sitting there my thoughts were that I had just killed my entire family. I was afraid to look at anything and then I saw my wife moving out of my peripheral. I immediately looked to see how bad she was. She looked ok (actually she looked great for having just been in a terrible car accident, but she always looks great) minus some cuts on her forehead. Our eyes met and we immediately looked to the backseats where our children were. All five of them were staring back at us. Everyone of us had cuts and bruises, but primarily everyone was fine.
We asked if they were ok and everyone thought they were, then we yelled for everyone to get out quickly because we didn’t know if anyone might come plowing into the back of our car. We hurriedly got out of the car and stayed on the side of the road until we could receive medical attention. At around 6:30am on July 28th, 2022. We didn’t know what we were going to do. But we knew one thing. The Lord would provide and he certainly did.
His Servant and Yours,
Matt McBrayer
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