Men's Moments
I am he who wipes the slate clean and erases your wrongdoing. I will not call to mind your sins anymore. Isaiah 43:25.
Do you ever get into a daily routine and when something happens to disrupt it, you fall to pieces. A couple of years ago, I had just purchased a 2010 Jeep after selling my old one. It was shiny and had a lot of gadgets that my other one didn’t have and I really was proud of it. I park it in the garage along with Linda’s car and we both have garage door openers which open and close both doors.
One morning I had to run a few errands in town so I got in the Jeep and pushed the garage opener and started to back out. All of a sudden I heard this loud explosion and felt the car shudder and realized that the garage door had only gone up halfway and the back end of the car had hit the door and shattered the rear window. Glass was all over the inside of the car and outside as well. I opened the garage door the rest of the way and pulled out to assess the damage. Linda came out of the house after hearing the sound and saw me standing by the car weeping. Weeping, because of my stupidity, and because I felt helpless to know how to fix it. Why didn’t I look in the rear view mirror? If I had I would have realized that the door had gotten stuck on a screw that had worked its way out of the track. I had gotten so use to the routine of the door going up that I had taken it for granted.
Fortunately we were able to clean up the glass and call my insurance agent and they recommended a firm that replaces car windows. After talking with them a technician was able to come out to the house and replace the rear window and it looks as good as new. Sometimes you have to experience tragedy in the past to help and guide you in the present. You might say that my Jeep and I got a “second chance.”
There have been many “second chances” in my life and I’m so glad that the God that I serve is the “God of the second chance.” In his book God’s Unlikely Path to Success Pastor Tony Evans says:
“God frequently uses broken people to accomplish his purposes on earth. Yet when you’re staring at your past, strewn with failure, it’s difficult to see your bright future, just as it’s difficult to drive when you’re constantly looking in your rearview mirror. When you drive, you need to glance at your rearview mirror, but if you continue to look there, you will end up hurting yourself and the others around you. That’s why the windshield is so much larger than the rearview mirror- the windshield shows you where you’re headed, not where you’ve been.”
I will continue to look in the rearview mirror as I back out of the garage and also when I look back at my life, I realize how merciful the Lord is in allowing me to continue to serve Him not only in the present but in the future as well. He truly is the “God of the second chance.” Praise God!!
Written by Bob Wilson