"Lie down!," is what God said to me, so I did, and it's a good thing I did.

It was April of 1970 when I heard that from God. Bob Wittik, a friend that had told me about Christ, and I were passengers in a car driven by another friend, when I heard God tell me to lie down.

Bob and I were just leaving high school to go home. As we walked by a car, a friend of ours offered us a ride. This guy was not a Christian at the time, so we thought this was an opportunity to talk to him about Christ and hopped in the car.

Our friend drove pretty well through town, but then he said his car was having a bit of trouble and wanted to take it out on Belleville Turnpike. It started to rain.

When you drive east on Belleville Turnpike beyond Schuyler Avenue in Kearny, New Jersey, there is a series of curves. As our friend headed that way, he drove faster. I was in the backseat when God told me to lie down.

We had no seatbelts. It was back when seatbelts had not been invented or, if they were, they were not mandated for cars.

Sure enough, about 10 seconds after lying down, the driver could not negotiate a curve and we had a head-on collision with another vehicle. Bob went right through the windshield. The driver struck his steering wheel, and I plowed into the front seats, twisting my left foot.

Had I not lied down it probably would have been worse for the other two guys.

Now, you might wonder, am I saying I heard an audible voice? No. But like most Christians, when I say "heard" I mean that I felt strongly impressed by God in such a way that it formed words in my mind.

But it really does not matter how one hears from God. We just need to make sure we hear.

The wisdom of God pleads with us in Proverbs 5:7, "Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth." Because He deeply loves us, God does not want us to be harmed by the ravages of sin.

If you are reading this and have not really totally committed yourself to Christ the most important call you can respond to is His call to salvation through Jesus Christ. God calls us to fully place our trust, our hopes, alt that we are, in Christ. If we do not hearken to this call, a fate worse than a car crash awaits us.