Death or Life… it’s a choice!
The sun was just coming up. We had left the Spanish Fork Utah home of my partner at 4:00 AM heading for Moab and the bridge project we were working on there. Even though it was Jack’s car I was driving along that long straight stretch of I-70 maybe 40 miles west of our destination. Next thing I knew the car was flipping and turning, once, twice, three-time and landed hard on its roof right above the driver’s side door. We skidded down the road, sparks flying and finally coming to a stop in the ditch between the east and west bound lanes. Pain had exploded in my head and I realized by hand, which I must have had outside the window was stuck under the roof of the car. “What happened?” I screamed, as I realized I had fallen asleep while driving, and now I was going to die!
My partner in the passenger seat was able to crawl free, but I was stuck. Hand under the roof the driver’s side window now just a slit. I cried, “Help me…Jack, help me!” I could see him standing about ten feet from the vehicle and not moving to help. He must have been fearing what was stuck in my mind. The car was a hatchback and we were carrying a torch set up. Small oxygen and acetylene bottles that must have been tossed around in the accident and they were going to explode. I was dead and there was not much I could do about it.
Back than as now, I did and do not fear death, but for very different reasons. Most of my life I was sure that this was it. This life. Sixty, seventy maybe eighty years then you’re gone. And if your luck stinks maybe you die in a car crash when you are thirty, a crap shoot. When you live without hope, that is what life is a game of craps and snake eyes is right behind the next roll of the dice. Death that final roll. Done. So, what is the difference?
For sure we are still all going to die. Unless Jesus returns before we do, it is inevitable. But 2 Corinthians 4: 16-18 says, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to one things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For things that are seen are transient, but things unseen are eternal.” There it is, life is not a “crap shoot”. If we live with the assurance of the resurrected Jesus, life is preparing us for an eternity that is full of glory.
The great thing about it is that we are told that “…the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6: 23 ii). Eternal life is free we can’t earn it because it has already been earned through Jesus Christ and to claim your free prize, simple… believe. Wait it can’t be that simple, can it? The Gospel of John sure says so, “… whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.” (John 3: 15).
When I believed in that, it made the difference. A Savior willing to die for me , my sins. But it didn’t end there, He came out of the tomb. He is alive, death is conquered. It changed me. It gave me something I had never had before, hope. Hope in the promise of Jesus, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2). For the first time I could see beyond myself and it changed me.
As you guessed, I live through that accident. I literally tore my hand from underneath the roof and pushed by way through the passenger’s side door. I experienced severe head trauma, cuts, and lacerations. But I walked away. And no, my life did not begin to change that day. But looking back on it I see God’s saving power at work. That near-death experience allows me to see that it isn’t death we need to fear but not living. We are offered a free gift and today you can accept it. Repent, just turn away from your life as you lead it and say, “I accept you into my life today, Lord Jesus.” Then with the Paul you can say, “O death, where is you victory? O death, where is your sting? For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin it’s power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15: 55-57). Today you can live life to the fullest, claim you prize. It’s free, “Thank you, Lord Jesus!”
Blessings John
5/15/17