Would a dump truck put you in the dumps?

A couple days ago I met Dave. He’s a mechanic and has been through a lot lately, a dump truck fell on his head ! Yep, thats what I said. And he lived to tell about it !  He lost one eye and the other one he has to manually blink every few seconds until they can do a surgical procedure to help his eyelid to do that more like God originally intended.  He’s got a ways to go with some major injuries but his spirits were refreshingly good when I visited him.

It made me think, though, about how fragile life really is. How that at any time any of us could face death, major illness or accident. And how that our lives truly are in His hands ! We know this to be true, from time to time we’re reminded of it as we see others affected by these, but what if it were you?   When I asked Dave how he was doing he said,  “Not bad, I’m here – beats the alternative !”    And when I asked Dave where he would be had the accident killed him he said he’d asked Christ to be his Savior some years ago.   Have you done the same? Have you asked His forgiveness for being a sinner and asked Jesus to be your Savior yet? If so, your place in heaven has been secured then !    What peace of mind salvation can bring to us.

But once you are saved and you’re reminded of such tragedies and the frailty of life again we still needn’t live in fear. God is in control. It was David who wrote those well known words, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil”   How could he really say that?  Answer comes next: “for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.”  Recently in a sermon I explained the good shepherd used two implements well for his sheep: a rod and staff. Both were poles but the rod was used mainly to ward of enemies of the sheep and never to whack the sheep itself.  The staff had a hook at the end and was again helpful not harmful to the sheep turning him out of the wayward path or rescuing a lamb from falling amongst some rocks.   When you consider these two tools of the shepherd’s trade they both relate very well to the Word and the Spirit’s help for us, especially when tragedy threatens us in any way !   And of course, knowing that He is with us is of HUGE comfort !

I thought I’d find a guy down in the dumps, embittered by what had happened to him. I was ready to lift his spirits with the Word but instead this child of God was lifting mine !  It can be frightening dwelling on what could happen but more than that it can be very heartening what does happen when God really is THERE in our hearts, ruling and helping us along no matter what is our lot !   Why not ask His Spirit to take charge of your attitudes today and lift the spirits of others rather than dwell on the negatives that are in this old world – do that and you will show others He’s really HERE  ~ “Thou art with me” !!

0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *