Accidents and God's providence

[LifeHiscost]

What auto or other "accidents" in your experience can you look back on and praise God for what didn't happen through it all, that could have happened but gave reason to thank God for His ongoing faithfulness?

How many serious accidents can you remember that could have taken your life, but as evidenced by your response to this post,

didn't?

God cares!

[phkrause]

I was, praise the Lord, not in any serious accident's, but have come very close numerous times. And I thank the Lord for those near misses. On several occasions have pulled over to the side and thought about what had just happen, and than wondered how I was able to make it through, and than recalled how an opening just came out of nowhere.

[Tom Wetmore]

Several motorcycle accidents for sure, at least 3 or 4 serious bicycle accidents, several serious horse riding accidents, almost drowned, almost shot myself in the head with a gun... And then there are a few accidents avoided by a split second and inches that would have ended very badly, one of which would have been certain death. ( speeding 18 wheeler through red light at intersection vs. me on a bicycle...)

So yes, I am thankful for a God that protects.

[Ted Oplinger]

I've had quite a few accidents (most bicycle related) where I am certain God's hand was protecting me - living in a college town, there have always been many a group of young boys being rowdy - and seeing how close they can pass a bike rider, running bikers off the road, playing "pin the beer bottle on the biker's back", etc., and I have had my share of run-ins with that crowd. Add to that drivers paying more attention to their cell phones than their driving and...well, it's a wonder more people aren't killed.

I have been saved from falling to certain grievous hurt by a providential branch being within reach, or a pile of loose aggregate semi-soil right below...only in both cases, going back to the scene showed that the branch I reached for - wasn't there, and the pile of semi-soil (disintegrated and weathered shale, in geologist's parlance) I fell into - was a pile gravel and bull rock.

I am also thankful God does indeed protect.

Blessings,

[Woody]

I had a crowd of rowdy people throwing beer bottles at me.

Was not sure I would live through that one.

Cyber-wise ... yes people seem to do that here for me. But in real physical life -- it really is alarming.

[Tom Wetmore]

Yes Ted, all of that and more!!

With tens of thousands of road miles on bicycle, there is not much I haven't encountered along those lines.

[debbym]

i was driving with two teens in the back seat. i was on the freeway Saturday afternoon south of Portland, Oregon. i was hit on the side of my car, by a SUV that was swerving to avoid a chunk of cardboard in his lane, and bouncing each time worse for three times. apparently the cars behind saw trouble coming and began to slow down.

i was going 60 mph and finally knocked out of control into three 360 degrees spins bouncing on tires across 4 lanes of traffic on a busy bumper to bumper traffic, a landed on the far side of the freeway facing the direction i had come from. all the cars were stopped like a sea of traffic looking up a hill. i drove across the lanes to the other side off the freeway. my car drove home fine.

a guy pulled off behind me a big guy smiling and telling me over and over, he had seen a miracle. i wish i was not so freaked out and crying that i did not ask him just what he saw.

when were were flying through the air, i cried out loud with all my heart Jesus!

i believe with all my heart we were saved By Jesus, there is power in His name.

[Gerr]

Awesome story! We shall never know this side of heaven how many dangers we have been spared.

But what would one tell the family of the AU theology professor who died in a MVA some years back? Or the family of those 51 dead in the OKC tornado? Or those who are spared but crippled for life?

[phkrause]

Awesome story! We shall never know this side of heaven how many dangers we have been spared.

But what would one tell the family of the AU theology professor who died in a MVA some years back? Or the family of those 51 dead in the OKC tornado? Or those who are spared but crippled for life?

I agree, what do or can we say. For as many that have been spared there are probably many more that have not.

[Woody]

I've witnessed many times when it made no sense for God not to intervene.

And also I've witnessed many silly insignificant times when people proclaimed He did.

None of it makes any sense to me.

[Tom Wetmore]

Wow! Yes, God is good!

I once witnessed a very similar situation in I-95. Heavy traffic going north and south. we we going north. Construction going on in the median. My first notice was a cloud of dust in the median which I thought was just construction related. out of the dust emerged a car flipping end over end, spinning wildly and bouncing across the median and the lanes of traffic two cars ahead of us and coming to rest on the right hand north bound shoulder on its passenger side facing north. As it turned out, the car had come from the far right lane southbound and only touched one other car, denting its trunk a bit. We helped the woman out of the car, unhurt but badly shaken up.

[JoeMo]

On a mission trip to Kingston, Jamaica, my feet got tangled in some wire on a scaffold; and i fell 10 - 15 feet head first on to a concrete slab covered with broken cinder blocks. I only remember falling head-first towards the concrete; and then waking up a few minutes later with people grabbing at me, trying to pick me up, checking if I was breathing, etc. I was sure I was gonna have a broken neck, broken back, or closed head injury. By the grace of God, I "only" had 3 broken ribs and some minor scratches on my face. I spent a day in the hospital and was back on the job.

Every time the weather changes, I am reminded about how God saved me that day. I truly think I should have broke my neck or at lease fractured my skull in that fall. Praise God for His protection!

[Igakusei]

I'm reminded of a story in a devotional I read as a kid, where a sudden impulse drove a father to pull over at a gas station to get a snack. A few blocks later, they passed a horrible accident involving the car immediately behind the red truck they had been following before the gas station stop. The moral of the story, of course, was thankfulness to God and their guardian angels for causing them to stop and saving them from the accident.

I've always wondered if the second car had a Christian family in it as well.

I've witnessed many times when it made no sense for God not to intervene.

And also I've witnessed many silly insignificant times when people proclaimed He did.

None of it makes any sense to me.

This has largely been my experience as well, Woody.

http://www.americanhumanist.org/HNN/details/2011-06-the-fallacy-of-miracles

[JoeMo]

Quote:

I've always wondered if the second car had a Christian family in it as well.

That's an interesting issue, Igakusei. I believe that God still works miracles on our behalf; but I don't have a clue why He works them on behalf of some people and not others. For example, He "cured" my mom of terminal (i.e., stage 4 metastasized) bladder cancer in virtually an instant healing. My mom's 87 years old; and totally independent. A week later, one of my good friend's wife died of female cancer. They had 2 kids still at home. Both people were equally prayed for.

I don't try to second-guess why God does what He does. I'm just admitting that I, in my limited consiousness and wisdom, don't understand how and why He chooses when to intervene.

[Igakusei]

Bell curves have two tails.

If the extraordinarily unlucky people aren't considered the recipients of miracles, then why are the extraordinarily lucky ones considered so?

How improbable does a fortuitous event have to be before we consider it divine intervention and not luck? One in five? One in ten? One in ten thousand?

[Tom Wetmore]

One perspective would be that a miracle happens to allow or pave the way for some later greater good to happen that fits the overall plan of God to ultimately work things out in a way to the destiny of his will to set all things right. Perhaps my life was spared so many times because God has a purpose for me to accomplish. My purpose may one be to serve as one link in a chain connecting people or events toward that destiny. I may have only been spared to be the genetic link to my decedents generations form now that help to accomplish that greater good thing, or so that I can be in the right place at the right time to offer the word of encouragement to some discouraged person that enables them to carry on and survive to struggle another day so they can be that one link.

The flip side of that is that perhaps those not miraculously saved are in the divine safety zone already, having served the divine purpose of destiny. Or the death they experience breaks a chain that needs to be broken to prevent a worse fate for someone later or to set up the chain of events for a course correction on the path toward the ultimate destiny of God's will.

What I learned though is that my every present question always ringing in my head and frequently escaping my lips from my earliest memories to this day - "Why?" - often has no satisfying answer in this life.

[phkrause]

Excellent thoughts/points Tom, I'm in agreement.

[Bravus]

Been keeping shtum on this thread and will continue to do so.

{waves}

[LifeHiscost]

Quote:

when were were flying through the air, i cried out loud with all my heart Jesus!

i believe with all my heart we were saved By Jesus, there is power in His name.

Reminds me of the time I was traveling in the foothill of Mt. Spokane, approximately 50 miles per/hr with wife and 4 kids in the back seat of our 56 Buick. The road was unpaved and had short rapid ascent and descent, enough so when you approached the top of an ascent, a car approaching from the opposite direction, if not having been seen when one was at the top of the last peak, wouldn't be seen until both cars traveling in opposite directions met at the top of the peak or just before.

In this case we met right at the top of the peak, both autos traveling at what seemed the same amount of speed, both right in the middle of the unmarked gravel lane, so close together there was no time to respond with effort to brake. The next moment, in the blink of an eye, I was looking in the rear view mirror at him disappearing in his own dust, not appearing to have braked or slowed down at all.

If we had collided with a combined speed of 100 mph, there is no doubt there would have been fatalities. This was before the time of seatbelts and there were four loose kids in the back seat of our car.

As to all the other scenarios where major tragedies are not sidestepped or outright miraculously avoided, we can be thankful God does not hold us as individuals, responsible for the uncounted millions not experiencing deliverance from the devils' wrath in this world. Surely most of my own deliverance from harm is not a result of a well planned lifestyle.

"Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."1 Peter 5:8 NASB

God cares!

[debbym]

Quote:

The next moment, in the blink of an eye, I was looking in the rear view mirror at him disappearing in his own dust, not appearing to have braked or slowed down at all.

i have a woman friend in middle sixties, she was stepping out of the hot tub at night after dark, at home alone. She slipped and did a full body slam 3 feet down on the deck. she was stunned sat up got up, not even any sign she fell at all.

she said the Lord spoke the promise to her, "I am able to keep you from falling." She could have been knocked unconscious, it was cold weather at that time, it could have been very bad.

we do not understand God's timing or plans. He is able to intervene, and everyone and everything is in his hand.

i have been through lots of things i was not spared, and things i was, i have no way of seeing or understanding the way God sees things and how and when he intervenes. i think of dear

Dr. Sloop. God be with his family and if he is alive God help him.

[Igakusei]

One perspective would be that a miracle happens to allow or pave the way for some later greater good to happen that fits the overall plan of God to ultimately work things out in a way to the destiny of his will to set all things right. Perhaps my life was spared so many times because God has a purpose for me to accomplish. My purpose may one be to serve as one link in a chain connecting people or events toward that destiny. I may have only been spared to be the genetic link to my decedents generations form now that help to accomplish that greater good thing, or so that I can be in the right place at the right time to offer the word of encouragement to some discouraged person that enables them to carry on and survive to struggle another day so they can be that one link.

The flip side of that is that perhaps those not miraculously saved are in the divine safety zone already, having served the divine purpose of destiny. Or the death they experience breaks a chain that needs to be broken to prevent a worse fate for someone later or to set up the chain of events for a course correction on the path toward the ultimate destiny of God's will.

What I learned though is that my every present question always ringing in my head and frequently escaping my lips from my earliest memories to this day - "Why?" - often has no satisfying answer in this life.

If that works for you, great. I've spent a fair amount of time digging into all of the major approaches to theodicy, but I haven't found any of them very satisfying.

[LifeHiscost]

Quote:

If that works for you, great. I've spent a fair amount of time digging into all of the major approaches to theodicy, but I haven't found any of them very satisfying.

The greatest difference is not found in this world, where all fall short of the Divine Creator's will for our lives. The ones

who are correct in choosing to trust in the Maker of a body that has literally billions of cells that must work together to stay alive for even minutes, even scientists saying is an impossibility to have happened by chance, face uncounted millennia of perfect peace without end.

If they could be found wrong in the end, they have nothing worse to face than what you face when not accepting the free gift offered to you. Because the divine Originator will not stop loving you until it is evident nothing will cause you to change your mind, it is then and only then, His decision to fully honor your right to remain separated from Him will be set in stone.

God cares!

[Igakusei]

Quote:

The ones who are correct in choosing to trust in the Maker … face uncounted millennia of perfect peace without end. If they could be found wrong in the end, they have nothing worse to face than what you face when not accepting the free gift offered to you.

At the risk of derailing, there are just so many things wrong with this. As one among many, what if the Muslims, Catholics, or any of a number of other religions are right instead? You could spend an eternity in hell for your apostasy. False dichotomy that it's either your god or no god.

[Woody]

Been keeping shtum on this thread and will continue to do so.

{waves}

Please Bravus. NO more restraint.

I have a feeling I would love your opinion.

Just a wild guess.

[LifeHiscost]

Quote:

it's either your god or no god.

Bingo!!!

And that's exactly what He, the God Who is love says. And have you found any of the other so-called gods offering themselves in love so you and any others, can have eternal life in bliss and personal, unselfish satisfaction?

"“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, And his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God."Isaiah 44:6 NKJV

"‘Do not tremble and do not be afraid; Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it? And you are My witnesses. Is there any God besides Me, Or is there any other Rock? I know of none.’"Isaiah 44:7 NASB

God cares!