Close Calls

Not every day, but sometimes the Good Lord reminds me (in a big way) that he is my protection even when I am not paying attention.

As we were coming home a couple of weeks ago on the interstate; the traffic suddenly slowed and an ambulance shot by us with lights and sirens going. (Whenever this happens I always start to pray for whatever situation has just happened that requires an ambulance. Experience has taught me that if an ambulance is involved; most likely the situation has not started out in a positive direction...If its Life Flight...its even worse.) As we drove by this truck, it was clear that the ambulance was for whatever had happened here. You could tell it was slick; the truck was from oncoming traffic and that as it lost control and rolled it came through the ongoing traffic(us!) and came to land very precariously balanced on the gaurd rail like you see here. (Over the edge lies a long, steep hill/cliff and most certainly a short, hard ride into eternity.)

The Bible says in Psalms 57:1..."Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy! I look to you for protection. I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until the danger passes by." We happened to be late coming home that day. What would have happened if we would have been 15 minutes earlier? That day I was reminded that this could have been any of us. How many times during the day does God give us his protection; without us ever asking for it; and save us from certain death or danger? I'm not just talking about a vehicle accident. I am talking about making decisions when we are presented with a choice; a choice that could lead us down the direction of life or death without you even knowing maybe which path you chose? Maybe its a decision on how we deal with a situation involving a friend or family; or a decision to look or be involved in something not entirely kosher. So many times I have prayed, "Please dear God, if you will just save me from myself...I will make it." For me, I find that my bad decisions are caused by my pride; the root of all sin. Pride is what caused Satan to fall from heaven; for Moses to never enter the promised land; for King David to lose his son; and King Solomon to go crazy. I am reminded almost daily how sometimes my biggest adversary is within myself. If God can just save me from myself and my own destructiveness (which has been built into us from the beginning when sin entered the world), I just might make it in this life.

So how can you survive this life and finish the race how God intended? That is the best question ever and I ask it all the time. The great philosopher Sir Francis Bacon once stated that knowledge is power....(he also stated that science is but an image of the truth, but that is a whole other discussion.) If knowledge is really power, why don't we possess it? Why don't we study it, focus on it, hunger for it, look for it? Because that knowledge has been hidden from us! So how do we get it? Where do we find it? The Bible gives us a clear direction to head...Psalm 119:105, "Thy word is a lamp until my feet and a light unto my path..."

So what kind of close calls have you had lately?