The Knowing

You are on the highway and traffic slows to a crawl combined with full on stops. You wonder what is ahead, is there construction, perhaps an accident? You edge your car forward each time the car in front of you does and you wonder, when can we pick up speed, how long will this take? Stupid traffic, so annoying. A sea of cars in front of you on a flat plane prevents you from seeing what is going on. Minutes pass and you have inched toward what looks like a smoking car at the side of the road. Where there is smoke, there is fire, evidence of something gone wrong. No fire trucks, not police cruisers, no ambulance with people rushing about, just smoke coming from a shell of a car. THAT slowed us down? THAT added time to my trip? Everyone in front of you has sped up and now you accelerate, shaking your head, saying to yourself, rubber necker's. The moral of the story is we can't look away, can we Dear Reader? Train and car wrecks fascinate, hold our attention in what could be pure concern or some kind of sick fascination. Humans are impacted by wrecks and the it could be me or someone I love feeling is hard to get past when we witness destruction. There is also relief, when we get to speed away, nary a backward glance knowing someone else has to clean up the mess and we are off the hook. 

Lets switch up the scenario. You have inched your way toward what looks like smoke, rising from a vehicle. Fire, police and ambulance vehicles fill the outside lane of the highway. Bright emergency lights blink and swirl. In your gut there is a sinking feeling because this looks serious. Was someone hurt? What happened? You look, and a stretcher is being raised from its folded position and in your imagination, you hear it click and lock into place. A person occupies the pseudo bed, the stretcher used for transport to hospital. The sinking feeling in your gut is accompanied by a racing heart as horror settles in. There is blood, a still body with an oxygen mask being placed over mouth and nose. Mesmerized, you witness the edge, the life and deathless of our existence. Honk, the car behind you reminds, move forward. You cannot stay here. You want to though, you want to ask, to scream, is he okay, will he be OKAY? Urgency takes over and you want to demand, will he survive and what will become of him? TELL ME TELL ME...another honk. Reluctantly you press the accelerator, moving forward. As you pick up speed, you tell yourself he is in good hands. EMS has responded and you trust that they know what they are doing, they are trained for emergency. Unable to shake the unsettled feeling, you hear a whisper that starts in your heart, "Do not fear." Listening closely, you hear "Offer up your prayers, they are fragrant to me. The one on the stretcher, he is mine. I know what he needs. This is not an emergency for Me, fear not, trust in Me." A quiet comes over you, a calm that you did not think possible. He is in Good Hands, you feel this, know this. In the calm, there is this "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 Trust in Him...