Some days start out ordinary and usual but really they are not. They are, each one, extraordinary opportunities to witness the connectedness God desires with each of us. This morning we were on our way to San Diego to stock up on provisions for the next month. We stopped as usual to get gasoline before hitting the toll road. Rob decided to check the air in the tires which made no sense to me as the tires were new. He seemed to dawdle today, answering emails, checking Facebook. This just seemed his pace today. We turned onto the toll road and within minutes came upon shattered glass everywhere. Cringing we maneuvered to protect the new tires from the glass and passed a truck facing us with 3 shocked passengers looking through a smashed windshield. Our van came to a halt behind a red SUV that has stopped because a young man was laying on the road just in front, his car banked half on the dirt shoulder. The passenger was frantically trying to make a call while another man seemed to be assisting the guy on the road. Needless to say we were stunned. These are the moments that time slows and your thoughts compound, while the voice in your head screams to be heard, all the while calming your kids, and trying to think rationally how to get out of the way for when help arrives. Retracing our timing and thoughts of the air in the tire and the few minutes it added to our time, became no longer an annoyance but an answer to our prayer for travelling mercies.
The seconds hung like stagnant air as we prayed eyes wide open, watching and seeing someone on a cell calling for help and another person shouting for someone to call or so it seemed, in a language we do not yet speak. Construction workers started waving traffic on as we realized the other driver with the smashed windshield bolted, allowing traffic to move. As we rolled by we saw the impact on the injured mans forehead and yet the blood was coming from behind his head, and his listless body begged for a response. I said, "We should pull over and try to help, at least pray for him and his friend. Try to park on the side. Lets go!" All of this, none to easy to maneuver with people waving and shouting for us to move, with no actual place to pullover. By the time we were able to respond and were standing near, the ambulance had come. You assess if your position or intention would hinder the critical help he needed, yet there was his friend panicked by the reality of what we were all seeing. The river of red leaving his body. The attendants hovering, while workers waved the traffic through. Kids in the car processing through their little minds the same info we are all grappling with. We reluctantly leave the scene hoping the prayers manifest, yet overwhelmed, questioning ourselves because of the time lapse in responsing to a man who's life is on the edge.
Maybe it is being out of our comfort zone, with our inability to communicate, that played a part in our response. Maybe it was concern for our kids, and keeping them intact. Maybe it was a fear of the unknown, how the police would handle it, and our role as witnesses, or concern for our safety being as it was on the highway with no shoulder to pull over. Still it screams in my head that we are called to minister for such a time as this. That minute that hung as stagnant air for eternity has saturated my heart beyond words. I am comforted slightly that my children needed us and still do as their prayers reflect the impact of the day still. I am left with thoughts of the courage and boldness that is needed to be that acting "pastor" in those moments the same as the paramedics have to save a physical life. I am haunted by that minute, and weighing the reality of his life slipping away, and the prayers that scream from my heart on his behalf, that it would be enough.
I think of our family and friends on a dangerous road about to crash(life) and question the courage to minister the gift of salvation that is in Jesus alone. There is such a tremendous gift of life, hope, freedom and joy that can only come through Christ. The gift of grace. I know, I used to think that I could earn some favour by God… and I tried. But every effort , every work, every thought, was tainted by pride, selfishness ,ambition, and so vile that it could never compare to the unselfish, complete and perfect act of Love that God Himself displayed. It was foolishness to try. I started to have a right view of who God was, but most importantly, of who I was in relation to Him. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding ~ Proverbs 9:10. Now, it wasn't a fear of God in a bad way, but a yielding, respectful awe and acknowledgement of who He is, that demanded a response. The moment I admitted in my heart where I was wrong before God… Grace began. I got what I didn't deserve. Forgiveness, love, and peace in it's place…. His spirit . All because of His unselfish unblemished act of sacrificial Love.
Where I fell short separated me from God. When I admitted my wrongs, recognized the accomplished work of Jesus, and began to trust in Him, a new life began. It gave me access. I still mess up and fall short, but His spirit guides me, speaks to me, and teaches me. The more I learn the simpler it is… it is ALL about Jesus. His desire to reach each us. The boy on the road, my family, my friends, all of us. It is His heart that breaks in me when I hesitate to share the love that poured out in red for all of us. I think of those that have a spiritual understanding, yet know nothing of God. They are those that think that God, being love, will accept their effort or intentions, and bypass their lack of holiness and righteousness at the eleventh hour. They will get to heaven on an assumption about Gods character. There are those that reject the bible because they believe an account of man that claims the bible is tainted by man, yet they believe the account of THIS man. Then there are those that want to wait until later. They hear Him calling but are putting it off. Today, on the road, seeing that fallen boy, reminded me that there may not be a later, only now. Now for you, and for me. For me it is to be that witness to testify and not hesitate. For you ...
Romans 3:23 ~ "… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Romans 3:10- 12 ~ "none is righteous, no, not one, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."
Romans 6:23 ~ "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Romans 5:8 ~ "But God demonstrates his own Love toward us in that, while we were still sinners Christ died for us."
Romans 10:9 ~ "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
Romans 10:13 ~ "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
Romans 5:1 ~ "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Romans 8:1 ~ "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
Romans 8:38- 39 ~ "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels, nor demons, neither present nor future, not any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
