When I was much younger (18…ok, much, much younger) I got in a car accident in which I hit a pedestrian. It was icy, he was walking on the side of a fairly busy road and I hit a patch of black ice.
My car was spinning very sluggishly – the whole thing felt like it was playing in slow motion so that by the time I actually made contact with him, I more or less “pushed” him into a ditch heavily filled with snow (I recall seeing his face very briefly through the glass staring dazedly at me as he hung onto the hood of my car before landing in the ditch.) Certainly scary – for both of us!
During the questioning for the deposition with the attorneys (which was agonizing) I was asked, “What happened to the car when you steered it to the right?”
I nervously and truthfully answered, “My back end came around and got in front of my front end.”
Now, this made sense to me. It still does. It is precisely what happened.
My parents received a copy of the transcript in the mail. You’d be surprised how much laughter has been generated in my family from that one small statement. It has been brought out at holiday gatherings and told to coming generations; it may as well be stamped across my forehead it’s so embedded into my history.
I laugh right along with everyone; seeing it in black and white made it sound a lot more funny than the day I said it in front of a room full of strangers where I sat worried over the unknown of my future. (It turned out ok; there was an eyewitness who saw the whole thing and the man checked out perfectly fine at the hospital.)
I’m so glad that God in his grace allows us to build onto his legacy – He lets us be called wonderful things – like “Christ follower” and “Child of the King” and “Joint Heirs with Christ”… Our identity in Christ, if we’ve accepted his free gift of salvation, is our greatest label, our finest possession – the best thing we can be known for and triumph in!
“Colossians 1:10-14, “And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Oh dear reader ~ Has your heart caught the truth of this? This is incredible really! That we are share in God’s inheritance ~ just for our obedience to Him?! Wow! It reminds me of a poem I wrote…I will share next time.
Meanwhile, are you living with burden or buoyancy? Are you buried under the stresses of life and unable to see yourself how God sees you if you are one of his? Or are you living with joy filled steps, walking forward excitedly in all the delight that comes with being a child of the King? Let’s talk…you know – between friends.
