Spared for a Reason!

One of my modern heroes is Ronald Reagan. I’m so thankful that as time marches on we are learning more about this great man. As many of his private writings become available we are able to observe his solid spiritual moorings that helped keep him grounded, focused, and able to function in volatile times. I remember after the assassination attempt where he was wounded, having learned how close he came to dying, he said he knew God had spared him for a reason. And, what a REASON! From that time forward he renewed his commitment to pursuing the great principles of freedom and democracy here at home and throughout the world.

Looking back over my life I can see many times when God spared me. I was not with my buddies the night a bad wreck took place. I had just left before something really bad happened. Even when I persisted in doing wrong God provided others to intervene in a way that avoided tragic results. These near misses may not have been life threatening in the same way President Reagan’s life hung in the balance, but, there was one incident in particular that did mirror his experience.

I commuted into downtown from the suburbs for over twenty years. I was part of one of the first vanpool programs. Back in the early 1980’s we became participants in the first contra-lane program where one lane was reversed and multi-occupant vehicles were allowed to ride against the flow of traffic. Concrete barriers protect these types of reverse lanes today, but back then there were only nylon pylons. One rainy Friday we had the unhappy distinction of becoming a part of the first recorded fatality associated with the reverse lane scheme. A young African American man was on his way home when he lost control of his vehicle and crossed into the reverse lane where our van hit on the passenger side of his vehicle. We were doing between 55 and 60 miles per hour. The force of the impact was so severe the young black man was killed instantly.

All of us in the van were injured but none critically. My forehead was filled with glass and I was bleeding profusely (according to the people responding I looked much worse than my actual injuries). I’ll never forget standing outside the van and looking at the young man who had died. His head was leaning back on his seat, he was handsome and looked like he was taking a nap. I also knew this could easily have been me. Our van driver was a long-term associate and as we stood together shaking on the side of the road, he must have been thinking the same thing, because for some unknown reason we grabbed each other and hugged. We knew we had come very close to dying but we didn’t, we had been spared.

While me being spared is certainly not on the level of President Reagan with his power and influence, this incident in my life did set in motion a number of changes that had direct impact on my family, my Church, and in general, my service to God. You might say I took stock of my life up to that point and did much reflection and reassessment. Couple this to a message I heard from our local pastor where he challenged us to determine what we were going to do about serving God. He essentially said: “If not you, who?” And: “If not now, when?”

I don’t know if there were immediate recognizable profound changes but because of these things working together God used them to communicate truth to me. That truth said priorities are important and they are only as good as how they align themselves with God’s calling on your life. Looking back I know things like the Church planning sessions were a part of this change in my outlook where I took skills God had allowed me to learn and used them to conduct more than 40 facilitated workshops to help Churches and Church groups accomplish great things for God. I became involved in ministries like the inner city Bible club. Some nine years into working with these children, I count this endeavor to be one of the greatest blessings in my life. I’ve not been perhaps the best, but, with God’s help, I became a better husband, dad, a more committed Bible teacher, and in general someone who began to care more about others.

Maybe you’ve had a similar experience. It’s easy to write it off as having dodged a bullet or crediting good fortune for still being around to talk about it. I am certain this is not how God would have us to see it. All things, (not just the good things), but all things work together for good (including the bad stuff), to those who love God and are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28) More later…………