The Rest of the Story--Ride With Purpose July '10

I love the movie Forrest Gump. One of my favorite scenes is when Forrest and Lt Dan were shrimping faithfully and still not catching anything. Forrest had been going to church and praying about it but Lt Dan only got angrier by the minute. Finally, in frustration, he asked Forrest where this God of his was.

Then Forrest says, "It's funny Loo-ten-ent Day-an said that, 'cause right then, God showed up!" Lt Dan had called God out and while He was at the top of the mast of their shrimping boat he argued and fussed with God while He turned loose His fury in the guise of a severe storm on the ocean. After a fight to the finish, the storm calmed and Lt Dan had supposedly made his peace with the Lord and all was well. Then they started catching shrimp like crazy! The Lord had been challenged and had given the Lt what he wanted. In the movie, God finally "showed up."

On our motorcycle ride last week we had definite challenges and trials. While riding down a two-lane country road in Alabama less than 10 miles from our day's destination, two of our friends had to lay their bikes down to avoid a horrible truck accident. In the process, Wayne swerved to miss the flying debris from the two trucks colliding. His bike had minor damage and he seemed uninjured, while Mike broke his hand, had terrible road rash and terribly sore muscles. His wife, Loretta, had really bad scrapes and bruises on her arm and bad road rash on her back. I'm not sure of the extent of the damage to his bike but it was messed up pretty badly.

The scene of the accident was a scary sight to behold. Trucks crushed. Motorcycles on their sides in the culvert. There were people everywhere. I don't know where they all came from on this little road out in the middle of nowhere. They were all over the place walking around in curiosity and shock and soon there were ambulances with their screaming sirens and red lights flashing. Our friend, Mike, wandered around stunned and bleeding. Loretta sat on the ground not daring to move until she could determine which parts of her were injured. Our group gathered around our hurt friends, comforted them and prayed for the Lord to help them.

Unlike Lt Dan, nobody had to pray for God to be with us and come to our rescue. He was already there! When we left the church on a rainy Sunday afternoon, He rode with us into the night. When it turned hot and steamy the next day, He came along. When tragedy suddenly struck on that Tuesday afternoon, we felt His presence. He was there in the Fire chief's daughter calling 911 at the scene. He was there in the nurse driving down the road who stopped to assess the injuries before the ambulances arrived.

The Lord comforted the young girl, a Baptist pastor's daughter, who felt terrible about how she had carelessly failed to slow her vehicle over the hill. He protected the rest of our team from being mowed down by the other truck she'd blasted into and shoved way down on the side of the road. He calmed our other friend who, although uninjured, was so distraught about the whole thing he was visibly shaken.

In time, we discovered that despite the horrible scene and "what might have been," the injuries were considered minor. There were no head injuries. There were no hospital stays. There were no deaths. What could have been overwhelmingly heartrending and tragic was a bump--albeit a BIG bump--in the road. Instead, what we had were our friends ministering to one another and others.

Our Comforter was there in the midst of our people gathered two or three together in His name as we prayed for everyone involved. God was there ALL THE TIME. We never waited for Him to show. He never decided to be with us and make an appearance. He was simply and beautifully with us all.

2 Corinthians 1:20 reminds us, "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through Him the "Amen" is spoken to us to the glory of God." The Lord promises us in Hebrews 13:5 I will never leave you, nor forsake you." We can hold this truth dear to our hearts no matter what is going on in our lives. It matters not the storm, the tragedy, the turmoil, the heartache. We do not wait for the Lord to show up. He is right there with us at every turn.

I am so glad, Father, that there was never a second away from your presence on our trip and especially on that Tuesday. I am so glad for your presence even now. This life often has moments so hard that we feel we can hardly bear them. Lord, you are the only soft place in it. We are grateful beyond measure. I love you, dear, dear Jesus. You are a friend like no other.

Suz