This happened to me back around '97... Happened during a seriously low and stressful time in my life, Dad had past away just years earlier, was going thru a messy divorce, wife cheated on me, got laid off from work, landlord had me evicted after a couple failed attempts in court, bills were piling up... on top of a few other poorly timed events. Well I was on my way to my weekend National Guard drill when I got pulled over at a random check point just before a bridge and my car was impounded and towed for an expired safety inspection.
So not able to get a ride, I started walking to drill, it was just a few miles more to go, and of course it was pouring rain. All I could think of was how would I make it past the highest point on the bridge without taking a leap, as many before had done on that particular bridge. Well not 30 feet from the bridge, soaking wet at this point, I heard a car toot and he pulled over just next to me and asked where I was heading and if I wanted a ride.
I noticed he was also wearing an Army uniform. He was going right past my unit on the way to his unit for drill too, so I hopped in. We had a good chat, very friendly type of guy, told him some of the things I was going thru in life and he offered some comforting words, he seemed to be fairly religious in his views. Told me he had just moved to the island and waiting to move into a new apartment. I thought it was pretty cool that he was moving into the same exact complex that I was packing up to leave. Then I asked him which apartment number.... my jaw just dropped when he told me. He was moving into my old apartment!
What are the odds of him picking me up at that very spot right before the bridge?? The very moment I had had enough.... It didn't dawn on me at the time, but he didn't seem surprised at all, hardly any reaction to such a big coincidence. Well I thanked him for the ride and wished him a good drill weekend and that's the last I saw or heard of him. After a while of pondering over the odds of that ever happening, and realizing he got me past the point of an easy out for all the misery I had, I suddenly felt my heart filled with a warmth, a calm feeling, as if someone just wrapped a comfy blanket around me and said everything's going to be ok.
The more I went over it in my head, the idea that I could have just had a guardian angel experience... and get to meet mine in person... the stronger my resolve became to make it thru all of it and with the help of family and friends, I did. But he truly and literally did.. pick me up and carry me past that tempting moment. If anyone remembers that short story about Jesus and the foot prints in the sand.