I had been warned. Loading heavy sheets of plywood and lengthy strips of siding and a storm door into the back of my minivan at a lumber yard tent sale, I had been warned not to tie the tailgate of my van open to fit it all inside.

“Once you get going, you’ll create a vacuum,” the man who’d sold it to me warned. “It will suck exhaust into your vehicle.”

Happy with the deals I’d scored, I paused for only a moment, considering the danger. But with my husband, Dana, at work, and no other vehicle, I decided to take my chances. After all, hadn’t we done similar things before? I was sure we had.

“I’ll keep the windows open,” I promised, making sure everything was secure before climbing behind the wheel of my van and starting the 30-minutes toward home.

While I was on a backroad, winding through rural Belgrade with the wind rushing through my hair, everything was fine. Merging onto Interstate-95 ten minutes later, I quickly picked up speed, imagining how good that new door would look on our house — so much so that I barely noticed the faint smell of exhaust.

But within a minute of getting on the highway, my head began tingling like someone had lit a firecracker inside. I felt suddenly dizzy and weak. Get off the road now! An inner voice roared. Disregarding the semi barreling at 70 mph behind me, I veered off the road and stomped on the brake. Throwing open my door, I jumped out and placed my hands over my head, gulping air.

How close had I come to passing out at the wheel? Seconds? Minutes? I was shaking, knowing that had I not been warned, I would have kept driving while the van filled with deadly fumes.

Thankfully, a kind woman, Brinda, stopped and drove me to a nearby rest area, letting me use her phone to call Dana. He and his father arrived with a truck soon after and picked me up. Then we went back for the van and transferred my cargo.

I thanked God for sparing my life, but the incident left me shaking. How often do we ignore life-saving warnings, whether from a doctor or a wise counselor or from God himself. God’s word is full of warnings. To turn from sin. To avoid false teaching. To stay spiritually alert as we wait for Christ’s return.

“Or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly,” the apostle Mark warns (13:36 NRSV).

Like I nearly was by those poisonous fumes, we are easily lulled into a false sense of security, thinking that we know best, that we can handle it and take our chances – until it is too late.

Meadow Rue Merrill writes and reflects on God’s presence in her ordinary life from a little house in the big woods of Mid-coast Maine.

Her memoir, “Redeeming Ruth,” releases in May 2017. Find her at www.meadowrue.com