In the last 72 hours, my life was interrupted by a near
death experience.
It’s Thursday night around 9:35pm and I’m returning to Berea
after an evening of work in Lexington. The roads have been poured on, but the
rain has ceased. Two turns after getting off I-75 I’m just a little closer to
being home for the night, that is until my tires begin to spin out
uncontrollably. I’m more than panicked, I’m shocked at what is happening. My
wheels begin to veer leftward and I realize at this point I’ve become a passenger
to my own vehicle. My 4Runner continues out of control into the ditch. In a few
seconds, a situation in which I felt so controlled in, became something that
terrified me. It flips over the driver side of the cab and at the end of its
motion I find myself climbing out of the passenger side window. I get out and
look around to see empty roads with the last van behind me having turned off to
a side road. I look down at the window I just crawled out of to find my phone
and I pick it up to call 911. My worst injury is a small piece of skin missing
from my left ring finger, but I feel like I just got off a bad roller coaster
ride. I wait until the cops come and in the meantime an off-duty firefighter
stops by and a couple of other people check on me. They check my eyes to see if
they are dilating and if I had any head injuries, but none were sustained. Once
the cops arrive they see that I’m completely fine and see no need for two to be
there at once. The remaining cop calls for the towing company and about an hour
and half later I take my first ride in the back of a cop car to my apartment.
When I get home and talk with two of my friends staying with me that night, I
feel mostly shocked and I want to cry. I decide to take a walk with one of my
friends and I sing two songs of one of my favorite artist’s, Will Reagan.
I find that I’m safe and warm
In your loving arms
You see me and you know me
And you love me
Through and through.
As we draw so near to you
Would you draw so near to us?
Lord as we cry
Would you meet us where we are?
Lord as we cry
Would you meet us where we are?
After the walk I go to bed and I have my friend read my
baptism letter to me. Reminding me of my salvation and the beauty that God has
made me with and the life that He has called me to live.
The last few days I’ve tried to make sense of this near
death experience. I am of course thankful that I survived the crash unharmed,
any Christian or gentile would be thankful for that. And many people after
seeing pictures of the damaged vehicle ask me, did you thank God? I’m sure many
of you think it’s by God grace and love that I’m still alive. And you’re not
wrong to think so. But I’ve tried to look deeper and what I find is that it’s
by God’s grace that He allowed the accident to happen in the first place. Oh
yes, God, in His sovereignty rains over all the things under the heavens and on
the earth. Good or bad, He is sovereign and mighty.
At the beginning of this month, I began reading one chapter
a day of the book of Job. Lots of times we look at how Job responded or how
Satan attacked. These are all important things to consider if we are to take
away something for oor spiritual nourishment and maturity. But what about God
in this book and how does He reveal himself? My conclusion is that part of love
is trusting and in His love and humility, God is willing to trust Job and us
that we would praise Him and continue to love Him even if Satan attacks us with
misfortune. What an honor it is to be entrusted by the Creator of the universe
that even if harm comes our way, He trusts us enough to hold fast to His
sovereignty. He trusts us that we would continue to love Him, rather than being
won over by Satan’s attacks.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is full of grace, love and
humility. Humility as He was born in a manger, as He argued with mankind and
rebuked them of human thought. He even suffered by the hands of man in order
that man would be set free from His death and resurrection. God’s grace isn’t
just that He rose again, it’s that he suffered and was crucified as well. There
is most certainly darkness in this world, but He is greater and able to shine
brighter than the darkest of nights.
So I say, praise the Lord! Because Great is He! And He is
greatly to be praised!
