The Mercy of God In Accidents

My wife and I recently went to Atlanta, Georgia to attend the Deeper conference put on by Living Waters. It was a fantastic conference, and I can't wait to go again next year. Check this post for some info on the conference.

My wife wanted to fly to the conference, but I insisted that we drive for a few reasons: 1) I love to drive, especially long distances; 2) I've never been through Tennesee, and I wanted to go throug their (although, next time it would be nice to go through Tennesee in the daytime - it's hard to see any of the Blue Ridge mountains at night!); 3) I'm fat, and I don't fit into airplane seats. Thus, we made the 17 hour one way trip, leaving at about 2:30 PM on Tuesday afternoon and arriving in Canton, Georgia (the location of our hotel) at about 8:30 AM on Wednesday. The week in Georgia was a blast, as we did some sight seeing and attended the conference.

We left Canton at approximately 4:00 PM on Saturday afternoon. I drove until about 8:00 PM, and then Betsy took over until about 10:00 PM. We switched, and I volunteered to drive until 5:00 AM or so, so Betsy could sleep. And then when she took over in the early morning, I would take some time to sleep as well.

During the entire trip down to Georgia I had been seeing a lot of deer lying dead on the highway, and being October, I knew that deer were out and about, and that I needed to be wary of them being on the road. Thankfully, though, we didn't have any problems on the way down, and the trip went smoothly.

The possibility of seeing a deer was still in my mind during the return trip to Minnesota, and I devised a plan of what I would do if I were to encounter a deer on the road: I would slam on the brakes, but I would not swerve - I would rather hit a deer then swerve into the forrest on one side of the highway, or the ditch on the other. Hitting a deer is better than rolling over, or running into a tree! Unfortunately, I never got a chance for my plan to play out, becuase at approximately 2:30 in the morning during our return trip to Minnesota, we were barrelling down Highway 27 in northern Missouri, about 50 miles south of the Iowa border, and a large buck dove headlong into my left front fender. His right shoulder slammed against my headlight, completely removing it, and the rest of his body mangled my hood and bent the fender into the front left tire. His head smashed against my windshield, right in front of my face, leaving a large spot of deer saliva on the glass and cracking the windshield. When his head connected with the glass his antlers broke, and I could hear them sail over my car and land on the pavement.

The entire incident happened before I could even think about stepping on the brakes. In fact, I don't think I even touched the brake pedal until AFTER the whole ordeal had occurred. I did slam on the brakes, however, mostly out of instinct, and my car screeched to a halt over the next 100 feet, leaving black tire skid marks on the pavement.



My wife had been asleep the entire time, but woke up quite quickly, and in a bit of shock. A Missouri state trooper happened along the highway after about 5 minutes, and he and I were able to locate the dead deer in the median of the highway. If anything, I can take consolation that the deer most likely broke its neck upon impact and was killed instantly.

I've been thinking a lot about this incident - it's the first (and hopefully last) time I've ever hit a deer. Betsy and I are very blessed to have not been injured in the crash. A friend of mine in high school hit a deer once, and his windshield collapsed onto his face, breaking his nose and cutting him up very badly. Nothing of the sort happened to us, though. If anything, an event like this has shown me how God has worked in my life. That sounds kind of weird. How is obliterating a deer with my new car evidence of how God has been working in me? Believe it or not, I think this event is an evidence of God's mercy. Here are some examples of God's mercy in my life, as evidenced by this event:

1) God has been merciful by blessing Betsy and I so that we were able to afford a new car.
2) God has shown mercy by giving us loving families who were willing to care for our son while we went away.
3) God showed mercy by providing the resources we needed in order to be able to go to the Deeper conference.
4) God's mercy was evident in that we had safe travel for our trip down to the conference.
5) God blessed us by sparing us from injury in the accident.
6) Our car was not so damaged that it couldn't be driving. We were able to continue the trip without having to have the car towed.
7) God has shown mercy by making us able to afford car insurance.

This list could go on and on, and could be confined merely to this one instance. For example, I could still note that: we were able to afford some sight-seeing; we were able to afford meals on the trip; we stayed healthy during the trip; and on and on the list goes. God is merciful in so many ways that I don't even realize - there are so many things that we take for granted. The fact that I am breathing right now is evidence of the mercy of God. This is especially astounding when I think that I have done nothing to merit the mercy that God shows me. In fact, I deserve the opposite! I don't deserve a new car, good insurance, a loving family, safety, or anything!

When I think about God's mercy in this event in my life, I start to think about all the other times where God stepped in and I didn't even realize it - and they were probably much greater than this one! Bible commentator Matthew Henry knew how to see God's mercy in everything. He was once mugged and robbed, and ended up writing this in his journal: "Let me be thankful first, because I was never robbed before; second, because they took my purse and not my life; third, because although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed."

Granted, smashing into a deer on a highway is indeed an odd place to discover the mercy of God, but it's there. The key is to realize it and then praise him for it, which is what I'm doing.

Deeper Update

Today saw day one of the Deeper conference, and it absolutely lived up to my expectations. I was blessed by the teaching of Ray Comfort, E.Z., Johnny Hunt, Paul Washer, and Kirk Cameron. The highlights of the day came when I got to meet most of these guys (check here for some updated pics).

Here are some of the things that I was particularly impressed by:

1. Ray Comfort's straightforward message about there being NO excuse to not be involved in sharing our faith (he was much more straightforward in this message than I have seen/heard from him before), and his admonission for Christians to get over their lame excuses and get busy.

2. Although it wasn't the main point of his message, Emeal "E.Z" Zwayne got me to think about something I hadn't thought of before: the depth of Jesus' humility in the incarnation, and especially in the crucifixion. Think about it: Jesus made himself subservient to his own creation. He was not only limited by his own humanity, but he also allowed himself to be mocked by tongues that he created. He allowed himself to be slandered by brains that he had formed with his own hands. He allowed himself to be hung on a cross, made by a tree that he had fashioned. He allowed elements from the earth itself to be formed into nails that would pierce his hands. The thought of the Creator allowing his own creation to abuse him is astounding in the context of the gospel - knowing who we are and who he is.

3. Paul Washer hit it out of the park, as he usually does. I especially appreciated his breakout session, where he talked about the several problems with the four spiritual laws (I know that's a huge statement that really requires more explanation, but I don't have time right now - I'll get into it some other time!).

4. The time of worship was really incredible - just one piano and 2500 voices. Also, there were several readings throughout the singing which aided in focusing on God.

So far, the trip and the conference have been worth the 34 hour, 2100 mile round trip! I'm looking forward to day two.

All The Way To Georgia

My wife and I are on a brief excursion to the state of Georgia to attend the Deeper Conference (check out this post to learn more about Deeper. Also, NOTE: check out these pics from our trip. I'll be updating them each day as the trip continues.).

After leaving Saint Paul at 2:30 PM Tuesday afternoon, we arrived in Canton, Georgia at about 8:30 AM Wednesday morning. We slept for a good portion of the day on Wednesday and then we took the day today (Thursday) to check out a couple of Georgia's tourist offerings, and we had the opportunity to sit in on a live taping of Wretched, a TV show on the Family Network. Here's some brief info on each of our experiences today:

1. We started off the day at the Georgia Aquarium. Before coming to the aquarium, I had heard a lot about it: the fact that it's the biggest in the world, and boasts over 10,000 animals. Before going further, I should mention that I'm somewhat of an aquarium snob - I really like to visit aquariums for some reason. I find them very interesting. That being said, I was really disappointed in the Georgia Aquarium, probably for two reasons: a) it had been too hyped up to me - I was expecting to be blown away; b) I've been to other really nice aquariums, so I was expecting the Georgia Aquarium to surpass them. It didn't happen. The aquarium in Cincinnati is still tops on my list.

2. We then moved on to attend a live taping of Wretched. I was interested in this because I've been a fan of Way of the Master radio since its inception, and a fan of Todd Friel since even before that. Todd Friel used to be based in the Twin Cities, but then moved to Atlanta in order to do the TV show. A couple weeks ago, I received an email from the folks who were putting on the Deeper conference, and they offered Deeper attendees an opportunity to attend a taping of the show, and also a tour of the radio studios. We accepted. The taping was a lot of fun, and really interesting to watch. The show consisted of three segments, all of which Friel was able to film in one take each! He's very talented, creative, and humorous.

3. Our final stop of the day was at Stone Mountain - the largest tourist attraction in Georgia. Stone Mountain is an extremely large granite deposit - the largest exposed deposite on earth. And in the center of the mountain is carved a large relief of a few key Confederate Civil War generals. The relief is informally considered to be the Mt. Rushmore of the South. The Stone Mountain was absolutely amazing and awe inspiring. I was reminded of my visit to Devil's Tower in Wyoming, as the two attractions are very similar - a gigantic rock sticking up out of the ground for no apparent reason. Yeah, I know, that doesn't sound too amazing, but it really was incredible. There was also a lot of interesting Civil War information at the park.

The night was topped off by hanging out with one of my friends who has moved on to Greenville, South Carolina. Greenville is about 2 hours away from Atlanta, so we met in between and had a good time (my first, and probably last, experience at a sushi bar!)

As of right now, I have finally found some free time to post some pictures from the trip so far, and I am eagerly anticipating the start of the Deeper conference, which starts tomorrow (actually today!) at 1:00 PM. I can't wait (and then the 17 hour drive home!) Check back tomorrow for more pics of the conference.

P.S. This is the first time we've been away from the Fergeson for so long. We can't wait to see him! We're coming, Fergie!

28 Years Closer To The Grave

It just now dawned on me that my birthday is on Saturday. It's not like I didn't know it was coming, but I just realized now that I'll soon be 28 years old. It's almost as if a light bulb went on in my head.

I've taken to measuring time - specifically years - as "(fill in the blank) years closer to the grave." For example, come this Saturday I will be 28 years closer to the grave. My wife gets mad at me and tells me I'm morbid, and to be honest, I do it partially for shock value and to get a laugh. But there's also a lot of truth in that: as of Saturday, 28 years of my life will be complete, never to be lived again. It makes one think about what he did with those 28 years...

Obama Camp

Remember this movie?



It's called Jesus camp, and it enjoyed some mild publicity and exposure when it came out a couple years ago. It was made by liberals who wanted to warn us about the dangers of religion, and the way kids in this country are educated and "indoctrinated" (a word that is misunderstood - everyone is indoctrinated with something) into believing Christianity. The only problem is that the makers of this movie chose to use an extreme, charismatic minority sect of Christianity, so the video is full of crazy people speaking in tongues. I agree with the people who made the movie: those people are weird. But to imply that this small segment of Christians represents the whole is very dishonest. The movie also makes several points about how these crazy Christians are all extreme right wing activists who are raising up an army that will kill anyone or anything who stands in their path. Take this clip from the movie for example:



I think we can all agree that the people in this movie are a) at least a little weird, and b) not reading their Bible properly. Can we agree on that? Can we agree that these folks don't represent mainstream American Christianity? Good.

Now check this out. Considering the liberal persuasion voiced by the makers of Jesus Camp, I am going to make the assumption that they support Barack Obama. I wonder if they've seen these videos:



Cute, right? Actually I thought it was just as creepy as those Jesus Camp clips (especially the choir director - creepy!) Now take a look at this one to get a more militant view of the Obama "indoctrination" (hey, that's what it is, right?):



Notice any similarities between the Obama clips and the Jesus Camp clips? They look pretty similar to me: they're both full of wackos.