Finding God in the Wreckage

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Posted by: Tom Neering from Middays | Monday, October 14th, 2024 ( 8:00am)

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." — Isaiah 55: 8-9

Where we go in life is important. How we get there is sometimes equally as important; many times dictating not only the scenery on our way to the destination, but also the stories we tell once we get there.

It was one such journey about 12 years ago that started off simple enough. I was on my way to my in-laws’ house to meet up with my wife and newborn daughter.  We only had one car, so my mom was giving me a ride. Now let me back-pedal here a little bit and say that for years I had been praying for God to show me how He grabs people's attention. Not the kind of moment where God needs to nudge someone into a better choice or quietly share with someone's heart His desires for their lives. No. I had been praying to find out how God can move a heart from being utterly lost to a place of finding His love and redemption in a single moment. My curiosity was not in vain; I had been saved about five years earlier in a similar situation, and I had been curious what that looks like for others.

So, back to the car ride. My mom began to drive, but I had it on my heart to go a different way. No big booming voice, no strange change in the atmosphere; just a nudge saying, "go the other way." So we did.

It was about halfway to my in-laws’ when a horrible car wreck happened right in front of us. Three cars were involved, and when I say right in front of us, I mean it was the cars directly in front of us that got in the wreck. My mom stopped, looked at me, and said "Go!" I knew right away that this was the reason we had come this way. Someone in the middle of that wreck needed God, and the Lord wanted me to be that help. Knowing this, I got out of the car and walked past the first vehicle in the accident. I saw the driver outside his smoking car, but he seemed alright. Again, I felt a nudge saying, "go to the middle of the accident." I knew that the Lord had me there for a purpose and that even though fear was trying to take a grip, I knew God had this, so I kept walking. At the center of the wreck was a big pick-up truck and a smaller sedan. I saw a man and his wife in the pick-up.

"They are all right", said a voice in my heart. "Help him.”  

In the sedan, I saw a man huddled over his steering wheel, blood dripping down his forehead, looking woozy and like he could barely keep it together. 

"Are you alright?" I asked. 

He looked up at me and kind of groaned. Now, at this point, I knew the ambulances were coming soon. However, something in me also knew that this man needed spiritual healing as well as physical help in this moment. The paramedics would do their job, but I had a job to do too. 

"Can I pray for you?" I asked. 

"Yes." he muttered. 

So we prayed. I prayed for his heart. I prayed for his healing. I prayed that God would show him His love through Jesus. Then I walked away. 

I stayed around for a bit after that, on the sidelines. I let the first responders do their work and kind of took it all in. The sun was beginning to go down, and the flashing of the strobes was beginning to become the main light source. After a little while, the man I had prayed for walked up to me, stopped, and looked at me with serious eyes.

"I was going," he said.  "I want you to know that I was going," he said again, "but then I came back. You prayed for me, and I came back."

We parted ways, and I went to my in-laws’ house. Now I don't know what the man meant when he said, "I was going, and then I came back."  He could've meant spiritually, he could've meant physically, maybe he meant both. What I do know is that man had an experience that was meaningful and important to him. That God knew the accident was going to happen. That God could have prevented it, but He didn't. 

I don't know where you are today. Maybe you are in the wreckage, or perhaps you are witnessing it. But today I challenge you to see God in that wreckage. It might just be a vehicle for Him to show up in. To save lives. To answers prayers. To reach down into the wreckage of this world to give us hope, and to show us that he is with us in the middle of it ... and on the other side of it all too.

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