Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
9/15/2021
One Last Chance – Or Just Another Chance – Which Is It For You?
I sat at a table at our men’s group last night and listened to a story that was very moving. Sam is a police officer and his wife is also licensed to carry a firearm. They were visiting his in-laws and the kids were in the pool wrapping up a fun afternoon. Sam grabbed his wife’s backpack where her pistol was housed and handed it to their five-year-old son to carry to the car. His wife immediately snatched it from him and his first impression was that she was angry. Of course, she was just trying to keep the contents of that away from their five-year-old. She dropped it a couple of feet away onto the floor and the revolver went off, piercing her calf and striking Sam directly into the chest. He recalled for us the ambulances, the white room, conversations that he could hear about life and death, and all the while he couldn’t breathe.
When the surgery was complete the doctor told Sam he shouldn’t be alive. The bullet that had passed cleanly through his wife’s calf and being a hollow point it should have exploded inside of his chest, killing him instantly. The bullet passed and seared the sack around the heart, collapsed his lung but yet through God‘s grace, one year later he was still alive.
Sam shared that he and his family were churchgoers. They believed in God but he realized after this near-fatal accident that in
God’s eyes they were at best lukewarm.
It was an eye-opening and life-changing moment for him and his family.
We are currently studying the life of Jonah the prophet and how he initially ran from God to avoid giving a message to the city of Nineveh and was thrown overboard and swallowed by a large fish to get his attention.
All of us have run from God at one time or another. The reasons are immaterial. But why is it that the people God has called to be a holy priesthood have such stubborn hearts? We can go to a movie that really moves us, and maybe even shed a tear. But go out afterward to have dinner with friends and quickly forget about what we have just seen on the screen. My question is? Why is it that we have to wait for a personal catastrophe before we wholeheartedly turn our attention back to God? Why does someone need to be on a ventilator and in ICU because of Covid before we hit our knees? Why is it that we have to wait until a family member has cancer and is struggling for their life?
Jonah received a second chance. That whale spits him out onto a beach and he was swiftly about his business. You’re reading this devotional right now because the Holy Spirit connected us. It isn’t some serendipitous event. God is always knocking at our door. He is always pursuing us. Yet we so often have grown cold and distant and unresponsive. He is a God of a second chance, and a third and 4th? You bet he is.
But how many times do we have to see the same flash of light?
Every time we see other people suffer through their own catastrophes shouldn’t that be enough for us to get really committed to our walk with Christ? Do we really have to experience it personally for it to really get our attention?
Sadly I think for many of us it does.
But listening is not a one-day deal. Commitment and obedience to God’s word is not a one-time thing. Be sure of this, the Holy Spirit called you to be reading this devotional today. Can’t we learn from what happened to Sam? You probably know of others you know personally. Will you humble yourself and recommit your life to Christ 100%? Not 50% Not lukewarm!
What would your prayer to God sound like… right now!
God is calling, are you really listening?
Darlene Zschech Hillsong And that my soul knows very well
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2dzy4qRJUU
