Daily Miracles or Simply Good Fortune

We cannot deny both good and bad things can happen to us on any given day. We live in a fallen world. One in which God is there watching over us. He is rejoicing with us when the good things happen, and he cares for us when we are up against trials, tragedies. He is cares. Even when we are in the midst of nothing more than a bad day, He cares.

We can bring all our cares and concerns to Him - the God of the universe. 1 Peter 5:7

I sometimes fail to remember that God is on the throne. He already knew that I would be writing this blog post on this day April of 2015. He knows every struggle that we will face and offers to be there for us. Nothing delights Him more than when we call on Him. Whether to praise Him for His goodness, to ask Him for strength or help or to beg him for the undeserved mercy He has already offered through Jesus Christ.

Today, calling on Jesus in times of tragedies is "normal." It is not frowned upon or ridiculed when we fall to our knees before God when our world is rocked to its foundation. It is not nearly, however, as common to hear praises for the times we are spared suffering or rescued from severe harm - even death? Praising the Lord for His goodness may not be met with scorn but smirks can reveal silent ridicule.  Ridicule doesn't scare me. I will praise the Lord anyway.

What started out as a great day for my 11-year-old nephew ended with a God revealing His level of involvement in our lives. He revealed how everything works together for His good to glorify His name.

My nephew had already played one tournament game in the morning, and another was scheduled in the afternoon. His sister informed me that, though the team lost, it was an exciting game. She invited me to go to the next with them. As I mentally reviewed (with a sigh) my list of things I had to do, I chose to go anyway.

I did so for a couple reasons. 1) I'm not able to go to all my nephews games. 2) I enjoy watching. 3) Time and memories are precious. Though life gets in the way. Sometimes I need to ignore the dust on the table and the carpet that needs vacuuming, (and the writing that I hoped to get done), and do the thing that will mean the most. Yesterday, it was a baseball game.

All our decisions, the ones we consider for days and weeks or the ones we make at the spur of the moment, have the potential for miracles and tragedies to occur. My decision to go could have gone either way and praise be to God, it wasn't tragic.

The game, which was a pretty good distance away, was over. With but a half mile yet to go we were chatting and enjoying each other's company when suddenly it felt as if we were on an amusement park ride. Did my brother-in-law hit one of the mammoth potholes creating obstacle courses on the majority of highways, city side streets - and back roads like ours? No, that wasn't it.

Once our truck came to a stop, sitting stunned we all wonder, "WHAT, just happened here?"

It became apparent when we witnessed her wheel rolling down the road in front of us and into someone's front yard. Her back wheel came off the rim! While we were driving down the road. It sounds rather funny until you consider that we were traveling a significant distance today at some higher rate of speed most of the time. We were on highways. We traveled through both cities and rural areas. About a half mile further and we would have been in front of my sister's house. All that driving and God protected us.

One might ask, "Well then why didn't he get you home?" That's a great question. The answer is He had the perfect plan. Her truck stopped in the road right in front of a driveway. As my brother-in-began to attempt to jack the vehicle with the onboard jack, a young man emerged from the house, walked out toward the road and stopped to lean over his truck bed to get something. As he walks toward the road with an outstretched hand, he asks, "Need some lug nuts?" Seriously, it was as if he was waiting for us, and we finally showed up to get them.

Two other young men followed him out to lend their support. When the truck fell off the tiny jack - for the second time, one of the others headed back for to the garage. He returned with a larger, sturdier jack. Beer in one hand, jack in the other. Within fifteen minutes, we were safely home.

Looking back, it's as if it was all planned. Some may call that "luck." The events of this day were not just dumb luck. It was divine protection and divine provision. God is watching over us. He does care for us. Sometimes He allows unfortunate things to happen and other times he intervenes and protects - according to His will.

His intervention sometimes comes in the form of angels. On this occasion, one of them was holding a bottle of beer the other a cigarette between his lips, delivering lug nuts and a jack.