“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God." ~ John
14:1
Allen was 27 when he boarded a
city bus to Golden Gate Park one peaceful autumn morning. After treating himself to a caramel mocha
latte, he began sobbing and hiking across the Bridge.
Stopping midway, Allen climbed the four-foot safety railing. Then he lowered himself carefully onto the
bridge’s outermost reach, a 32-inch-wide beam known as “the chord.” It’s on the chord, 220 feet above San
Francisco Bay that people attempting to kill themselves often pause.
The view was spectacular: Angel Island to the left, Alcatraz
straight ahead, Treasure Island farther off.
He’d every reason for wanting to fold the crappy hand life had dealt
him. Recently evicted by his girlfriend,
his career was going nowhere and an extensive search for his father had yielded
precisely nothing.
Allen counted to ten but
remained motionless. “Will I die on
impact or gradually from drowning or hypothermia?” he wondered. Everything he’d read suggested jumping was
quick and certain.
Fearing cowardice, he launched himself over the edge. A split-second later after making the irrevocable
decision, Allen changed his mind.
One-one thousand (200 feet to splashdown).
He instantly realized that
everything in his life that he’d thought was unfixable was totally curable, except
for having just jumped.
“If I die,” he reasoned, “my own
son will suffer precisely the same Dad-shaped emptiness I had.”
In the few milliseconds before
collision, Allen prayed.
He hit the water at about 80
miles an hour and with a force of 15,000 lbs/in2. Ninety-eight percent die instantly.
Not Allen. He swam frantically to the surface, terrified
after he felt something brush against him.
That despite suffering shattered ribs, broken neck, and burst spleen - all
so he might see his son again. He’d
later learn that it wasn’t a shark but a sea lion that miraculously kept him
afloat until the Coast Guard arrived.
But that isn’t even the most amazing
part.
Two weeks later, a local retiree
read about Allen’s failed suicide attempt. Citing her proficiency at finding missing
people, she tracked down his missing father in less than two weeks. After literally years of searching, Allen
finally reconnected with his long-lost Dad - partly because someone cared
enough about a stranger’s misery to sacrifice a week of her life helping him. Mostly because a loving God graced him
another chance at life.
God often grants us second,
third, fourth chances, etc., and we either put them to good use, or hopelessly
squander them. We all stumble, we all
make mistakes, and we all inevitably beg our Creator for yet another chance. He believes in second chances . . . with
strings attached to these fleeting opportunities: namely repentance and change.
Forgiving Lord, thank you for people,
opportunities and favors you have blessed me with. Allow me the courage to change my life for
the better by casting all my burdens to You.
Bless me with love, strength, wisdom, and a willingness to learn. Amen
