When I was about twelve years old, my dad owned a semi-truck. He mostly hauled construction materials. One day, my dad was behind the wheel, and riding along with him were my grandfather, the owner of the cargo, and the workers who would unload it. As they reached a downhill stretch known as “The Eternal,” the unthinkable happened—the very thing every truck driver dreads. The brakes gave out. More than 50,000 pounds of weight sent the truck hurtling to an incredible speed in mere seconds.

My dad, the first to realize the terrifying truth, saw a thousand scenarios flash through his mind, each one darker than the last. There was no happy ending in any of them; death was the lead character. His only hope was to minimize the loss of life, as this road was heavily traveled, a regular route for passenger buses. My grandfather saw the frantic attempts to downshift, to find some way to stop this monstrous machine, and he knew what was going on.

Suddenly, my father saw a massive, solid rock wall. His gut instinct screamed to crash into it. At that speed, it seemed like the least catastrophic option, the one that would claim the fewest lives.

Then, my grandfather, understanding my father’s desperate plan, spoke words that changed the trajectory of everything. “Calm down, and keep going.”

My father, in his anguish, steered on, not knowing how it would end. But in a way only God can orchestrate, the scene concluded with my father bringing the colossal truck to a halt at the bottom of the hill, after miraculously bumping into a pickup truck three three times without it sustaining any damage. I remember hearing my dad recount this testimony countless times, always giving glory to God for His intervention, for turning what could have been a tragedy into a triumph.

The day I’m writing these words, for some reason, I woke up with that memory front and center. My thoughts kept returning to my grandfather’s words: “Calm down, and keep going.” If my father hadn’t heeded them, the story would undoubtedly have ended in a lamentable catastrophe.

In his moment of desperation, his best solution didn’t align with the solution God had prepared. What could have been fatal became a powerful testament to God’s unwavering power.

Perhaps you’re navigating your own moment of despair, where everything screams that death would be a release, and you’re contemplating giving up. But God brought you here today, to read these very words, so that the course of your life might be utterly transformed… “Calm down, and keep going.”

Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT): “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Calm down, and keep going!

Isaiah 41:13 (NLT): “For I hold you by your right hand—I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.’” Calm down, and keep going!

John 16:33 (NLT): “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

Calm down, and keep going!