{"id":50514,"date":"2000-07-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2000-07-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/divine-detour\/"},"modified":"2000-07-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2000-07-11T00:00:00","slug":"divine-detour","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/divine-detour\/","title":{"rendered":"Divine Detour"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An unplanned trip to Taco Bell on the day of the Columbine shooting may have saved the life of Amanda Meyer, good friend of martyr Cassie Bernall.<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>On any other school day right after lunch, Amanda probably would have been sitting with Cassie in the school library, where most of the Columbine killings took place.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>But not on April 20, 1999. Here&#39;s the amazing story:<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Amanda had been waiting to meet some friends in the cafeteria. &quot;But they never showed up, which was strange,&quot; she says.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>A girl Amanda knew from work asked if she wanted to go out for lunch.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&quot;She wasn&#39;t really even a friend,&quot; Amanda says, &quot;I thought, <em>I shouldn&#39;t go because I&#39;m supposed to meet friends,<\/em> but instead I said, &#39;Sure, why not?&#39; Then I thought, <em>I&#39;ve got to be back in time to meet Cassie in the library to study,<\/em> but I didn&#39;t even say anything.&quot;<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I went to Taco Bell. &quot;I spilled taco sauce on my white T-shirt,&quot; says Amanda. &quot;I thought, <em>No big deal. I&#39;ll just wear my coat and no one will see the stain.<\/em> But what I said was, &#39;Could we stop at my house so I can get a clean shirt?&#39;&quot;<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>By the time they got back to school, the shooting was taking place. Students were running from the building. People were shouting and screaming. &quot;Something was obviously wrong,&quot; says Amanda, &quot;but I didn&#39;t know what.&quot;<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>That was the only day last year Amanda left school for lunch.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Amanda&#39;s mom believes God spared her life. Says Amanda, &quot;I feel like all of this is preparation for something.&quot;<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[310],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[4141,4565,4736,5162],"tax_ctp_topics":[378],"class_list":["post-50514","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-help-from-god","tax_ctp_tags-omniscience-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-providence","tax_ctp_tags-timing"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Divine Detour - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/divine-detour\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Divine Detour - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An unplanned trip to Taco Bell on the day of the Columbine shooting may have saved the life of Amanda Meyer, good friend of martyr Cassie Bernall. 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