thanks. amen.

I wonder how God decides to save a life.

My mom leaves work every day at 4pm. She walks through the skywalks of Minneapolis, finds her car in the parking ramp, and drives home in time to make dinner.

One day a few months ago, she got held up at the office and had to leave half an hour late. At 4:30pm, her heels clacked through the parking ramp only to find caution tape and police everywhere.

30 minutes earlier, at 4pm, a woman walking to her car had been stabbed. The incident was reported as random.

Mom, that could have been you.

 On July 20^th, 2012, one of my classmates was in Aurora, Colorado, and planned to go see The Dark Knight Rises at its midnight premiere. She got to the theater, only to find it was sold out. She left. An hour or so later, 12 were killed in the shooting.

How easily she could have been number 13.

My friend’s mom was walking home one cold night when she was a teenager, nothing but her, the curved road, and the fields of corn and woods surrounding her. She saw a white van in the distance, and as it turned around and started to head toward her, she slipped into the trees to her left to hide, just in case. She heard the van drive up, slow down, and listened to one man ask the other “Where’d she go?” They finally drove off.

One single tree stump hid her from danger.

I’m not really sure what to make of all this. When someone dies, the question is always, “Why?” When someone doesn’t die though, when they barely escape it… I find myself asking “Why not?” Luck? Karma? A gut feeling?

These situations kind of make one aware of some outside force protecting them, taking away, if only for a moment, any doubts about God. 

You can continue to ask “Why” and blame God when tragedy strikes, which is okay- Don’t blame yourself, don’t get angry with those you love. God can handle those feelings, you and your loved ones cannot.

However, if only to be fair, you’ve got to realize it not only when God takes a life, but when he keeps one around. It doesn’t need to take a “close call” for you to thank him for someone. Thank him every day your family and friends make it through.

One of these nights before bed, send up a quick prayer with no requests, no questions, no complaints. Just a thank you.