"Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage." -- Psalm 27:14
It should’ve been a day like any other. I was putting the finishing brush strokes on the outside trim of my two-story home. Twenty feet up a ladder; enjoying a gentle breeze and the sun on my back. Sure I should have climbed back down to move the ladder, but I was sure I could reach the last tiny, unpainted spot. Really bad decision! Having lost my balance, I fell awkwardly to an unforgiving pavement.
I’m in a better place now, but I’ll get to that later. Looking back, that was the scariest day of my life. A stranger in a Detroit Lions’ jersey immediately checked my pulse. My breaths were shallow and uneasy. I wondered how many I still had left to take. He called 9-1-1 and started CPR.
Pain raced through my veins. Blaring sirens and frantic screams kept me alert enough to realize that my energy and life were quickly slipping away. Lions’ jersey man spoke calmly, “Hold on fella! You’re gonna be alright! Hang in there. Please!” My mouth opened, but the words were trapped in my throat, trying to break free like a dolphin caught in a fishing net.
Bright lights flashed as the ambulance arrived. Needles pierced my clammy skin; IV fluids trickled through my body like scurrying spiders. When the paramedics turned around to thank the guy for helping, he had silently disappeared.
Immobilized on what felt like a granite backboard, they continued CPR, and asked my frightened wife to follow them in her car. “I don’t think he’s going to make it,” one of them told her.
The ambulance driver asked, “Where are we heading?”
"To the cemetery!" the paramedic shouted back.
Helplessly motionless, my pulse quickened. I needed to shout, “Why the cemetery?” I’m not giving up; I’m still very much alive! Please, keep trying! But it was no use: my mouth wasn’t cooperating with my brain. God I wish I could have thanked my parents again . . . and told my wife ‘I Love You’ just one more time.
As the ambulance approached the cemetery gates, it became clear. They’d called ahead. Just yards away sat a life-flight helicopter awaiting my arrival. No trees or power lines; the cemetery was the only safe place to land.
I’m okay now; I’m in a better place. I have a new appreciation for the strange way God often asks us to trust him. Sometimes it feels like He’s leading us down the wrong path . . . to the wrong place . . . at exactly the wrong time. Don't ever allow your emotions to alter your confidence in God. Though our feelings come and go, God’s love for us does not!
Oh God, forgive me for doubting you when the path you take me on seems dark and unclear. Forgive me for questioning You when the destination You’re leading me to seems "wrong." Increase my trust this day! Amen
