There were three travelers in a red impala returning home from a distance education conference in Wisconsin. I was sitting next to the driver, Kim, reading and mentally outlining and preparing to share a devotion the following Monday. Suddenly a black car on our left side left the highway and spun off in the median. In response, the driver overcorrected and caused the vehicle to spin out across the four lane highway stopping directly in front of us.
The cars behind us braked and kept a good distance between our car and the “out of control” vehicle. Kim calmly brought the car to a hault as I glanced up and mumbled, “Oh my God! Oh my God!” Melanie in the back seat started to pray. The impala stopped just short of the resting in front of the other car, where we could see the woman’s anguished face braced for the potential impact.
Kim calmly corrected the situation on the road and the red impala continued the journey home. There were anxiety, tears, and awareness of the near miss incident. Just as our driver continued traveling the highway, so must I continue faithfully on this perilous, sometimes mundane, journey called life.
1 Peter 1: 3 – 8 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
The travelers in both cars were glad to be alive, but I wondered if the resurrection would have been better. Having lost a husband and 4 babies, I have heavenly deposits so death is not so intimidating. One of the lessons learned from near misses remind us that we should gladly offer our praise for our time spent in present trials and sometimes tribulation, because ultimately Jesus Christ receives the glory.
It was obviously not our time to go be with the Lord as His grace was freely dispensed. Near misses remind us of the value of this life that we have a purpose in why we are here. I thought of my children who would have been left behind if I were to go be with Jesus. Yet, I know the Comforter will come to them when it is my time to be with the Lord. If I trust Jesus Christ with my death, surely I can trust Him with my life.
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