"Someone Worth Dying For"

"To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord Himself is God; there is none other besides Him."  Deuteronomy 4:35

Last week was a very traumatic time in our house...and yet a very awesome thing happened in the midst of it all.  The picture of the van at the left is the wreckage of a vehicle in which a man was killed.  We did not know this man or his family.  We still don't...only his name.  But this man did something amazing for us...and you may not understand this...and neither may his family. First of all let me say that my heart has been burdened greatly for this man's family...and I have prayed for them daily ever since this has happened. Perhaps one day there will be an opportunity for me to tell them so,  not just yet...but in God's time.  You see, last week this man had a divine appointment with eternity.  I am certain that on the morning of July 27th,when he left his home for work, he had no idea that he was heading for this divine appointment.  I would imagine that if he had known he probably would not have left his house. But he did was he was supposed to do on that day, which appeared to be an ordinary day for him of going to his job. 

At about the same time that morning my son also left our home and was headed for his new job up the highway about 50 miles away. Everything was looking good for him...he had just recently decided to come back home from up north and look for work down here since things weren't going all that well for him in his previous location.  He was amazed that he had found a job so quickly upon arriving here, and he was actually enjoying working outdoors again in the fresh air and sunshine after being cooped up indoors in the cold north for so long. He was feeling pretty good and enjoying the ride in his pretty car that he was so proud of..."the love of his life" you might say. 

Suddenly everything changed for these two men on the same road heading for different places...due to a series of unexplainable and terrible events their lives literally collided on that highway...and as the beautiful red car strangely spun out of control and into the path of the van, the man in the van did what I am sure any of us would have done...he tried his best to avoid that vehicle and the person sliding right before his eyes...and as he swerved to miss him, he too lost control of his vehicle, and the two vehicles went careening down over the embankment to the swamp down alongside the road.  As my son looked back up toward the highway from his backwardly skidding car, he was shocked to see the van hurtling and flipping directly toward him.  He barely had time to duck down in the front seat as he felt the spray of glass from his t-tops above showering down on top of him.  Then he heard the loud thud of the van landing in the swamp just behind his own car, and he leaped out of his car to see what had happened and called to the man in the van...but there was no reply.

As he wandered around in shock he called us on his cell phone and cried as he told us about the accident and we could hear the fear and anguish in his voice as he told us that he thought the other man had died. We dressed as quickly as we could and headed up the road to be with our son and bring him home.  We did not get to see his car as it had already been towed away, but we saw the van as they were dragging it out of the swamp, and our hearts throbbed for the soul of the man who had lost his life in that mangled hunk of steel.
When we reached our son we held him and cried and thanked God for saving his life and restoring him to us whole.  And again we prayed for the soul of the man who had met his destiny that day...and for his grieving family.

Little by little the details came out...and even a few days later as our son viewed his vehicle for the first time since the accident...the true impact of what had happened that morning began to make its impression on his and our hearts and souls.  When our son saw his car he realized that it was much much worse than he had known the day of the accident...he had not known that the hood of his car was badly smashed by the other vehicle, and that only an angelic bubble could have stood between him and the crushing weight of that hurling missile that apparently had literally bounced off his hood and over the top of his car, completely missing him and leaving him physically unscathed.  What really hit all of us hard was the fact that this man had actually sacrificed his own life in attempting to avoid hitting our son's car...and his life was taken away, while our son's life was spared.  That is what really came through loud and clear...this man died and our son lived. Why? Only God knows for certain.  We can't explain or understand...we can only be grateful.  I think the thing that has hit my son the hardest is that his life has been spared for a reason...and he wants to be worthy of that.

We all have a date with destiny...a moment in time when we will meet our Savior face to face.  We hope that we will be counted worthy of heaven at that time...but the truth is, none of us is worthy in our own strength.  It is only because of Christ that we can even hope for eternal life...not because of our good works or "worth". 

"Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.  For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.  And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation."  Romans 5:6-11

Someone Worth Dying For by Mikeschair  Please click on the link and listen to the song by "Mikeschair"... maybe you are the one who doesn't believe that you are someone worth dying for...but you are precious in God's sight...so precious that He sent His own Son to die for you so that you would be redeemed to God for eternity.   If you don't know this Jesus...I hope you will just ask Him to reveal Himself to you...and give you a purpose for living...and a hope for eternity.  We never know what may lie ahead in the road for us each day...we need to be reconciled to God  while there is yet time.  You ARE someone worth dying for.