A Boy's Life, A Snuffed Flame

Through the marvel and ease of communication that we enjoy in this day and age of cell phones, I was informed of a tragic accident resulting in the death of a 14 year old boy on Tuesday morning. The lad was enjoying a morning of sledding rather than being in school. Apparently he slid into the road or too close to the road and was struck by a car that would have had no chance to alter it’s course before striking the boy by the time the boy was in line of sight of the driver. Now before he is condemned for not being in school, it is unknown if there was school that day or not due to the snowfall. After some quick research to verify the truth of the matter, that it wasn’t just a morbid prank rumor (yes stories like this do get made up whether you as the reader choose to accept the truth of that or not), it was in our local newspaper and online. My heart just sank and I was almost upset that I was still in PA visiting with family instead of being where this occurred.

There were many things racing through my mind and heart. The strongest of course was to pray for this boy’s older and younger brothers. All 3 had visited our church’s youth ministry a number of times before they moved too far away to be able to come. Prayer also was made for the driver and passenger of the car and their families. The passenger attended the same school district and very well could have known the boy. The second was to cut the family visit short and make it back to NY for youth group tonight and talk with our teens about this. I knew that there would be a few at least that would be upset at this and would probably have questions…..difficult questions. Why am I still here in PA??? I should be on the road already, right??

Wrong.

God helped me to win the fight going on. I was fighting with my unbelievably seemingly righteous……arrogance. The thought may have surfaced at one point that there would be panic and that the parents, staff, and counselors that the school said it had ready to face this with the students just wouldn’t be enough to counsel the kids and the family through this immense tragedy. That simply is not the case at all. God allowed me to wrestle with this selfish thinking the rest of the evening until I accepted the fact AGAIN that IT’S NOT ABOUT MEEEE! IT’S ALL ABOUT HIM. GOD. JESUS CHRIST. OUR CREATOR. OUR COMFORTER.

After sorting out most of my thoughts and reactions to this accident and how they played into the reality of the situation, I had a most startling epiphany. I was satisfied and content to be where God wanted me, and that was here in PA visiting with my wife’s family for a few days. Hmmm, go figure. Even in the midst of the desire He gave me to run to the hurting, I can only do so much for so many and if I don’t remain in His perfect will for my life EACH DAY, I will burn out and be of no use to anyone for HIM. He has others that are responding to crises each and every day. Not one of them is expected by God to handle each crisis. He is using some and resting or training the others for their time.

I can’t adequately explain why God allows certain “bad” things to happen like this accident. But I do take some comfort in knowing that the effects of Adamic sin are on every single living thing on this earth and on the universe itself. There would be not one accident if it were not for sin’s impact on this world. Accidents are due to error somewhere along the line. In this particular case there are a few different possibilities that come to mind: he should have been in school instead of skipping (if school was in session), he should have jumped off the sled before it got near the road, he should have been sledding in a safer sledding area. Whatever the error in judgement or mistake that was made, we see the ultimate consequence being fulfilled here, death. The Bible says in Romans that the wages of sin is death. This means the wages of Adamic sin as well as individual sin.

A respected well educated Biblical scholar cleverly put it this way, “Bad things happen to bad people, bad things happen to good people. But God is still God and is a good and perfect and holy and just and merciful God.”

You see it doesn’t really matter if you agree or not, if you believe in The God, or A god, because the question is not IF you will confess that God is God and that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. No. The question is WHEN will you? For the Bible says that EVERY knee will bow, EVERY tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

To the family of this boy, our hearts and our prayers for God to touch and comfort you as ONLY He can do are being prayed this night. Please seek Him while He may be found.

Any questions? Please don’t hesitate to ask.