When I was a young man, the Lord began to pursue me, calling me to resume my neglected relationship with Him established when I was ten years old. By the gracious hand of God, several other wake-up calls came my way — like the two times I was robbed at gunpoint while at work as a gas station attendant! I was unharmed. Then came four separate, potentially fatal incidents on my motorcycle — yet I was not harmed in any way.
The FIRST one took place when I removed my hands from the handlebars while crossing some railroad tracks that were on an incline: The front wheel came off the ground and the forks began to pivot back and forth — then, suddenly, it was as if someone grabbed the handlebars and steadied the bike until I could get my hands back on the handlebar grips.
The SECOND incident occurred when I was on my way to see an Air Force recruiter: I was on the 10 Freeway, near the 605 interchange, going 65 miles an hour (no helmet of course!), sandwiched in-between two semis.
Suddennly, my bike was unable to accelerate — the chain had snapped off! Rather than bunch up on the rear wheel sprocket and f lip the bike or throw it into a slide, the chain simply, neatly, rolled off and onto the freeway (I could see it in my rearview mirror)!
My THIRD encounter with what should have been death was when I was on that same bike (my 1970 Triumph) with a “hefty” passenger on the back, my friend Bob Lodahl.
We were going 95 miles an hour downhill (on Sapphire St., for those of you familiar with Alta Loma, CA). It was at night, and unbeknownst to me, there was a blob of dried cement on the road — which we hit! The rear wheel came off of the ground and my buddy on the back bounced about six inches up off of the seat, with his arms wrapped around my waist! Bob was a big boy — about 240 lbs. Miracle of miracles: Nothing happened (except we slowed down the rest of the evening!).
The FOURTH wake-up call came when returning with some friends from a rather long motorcycle trip (Phoenix and back). It was late at night, we were riding at 65 mph — and I fell asleep, several times “at the wheel.” Each time I would drift from the slow lane over into the fast lane — right next to the fence that existed on the I-10 Freeway at that time! Once again, I was spared.
Do you recall circumstances/situations in your life that could have been fatal — yet you were spared? Sometimes near-death experiences happen to people who are walking with God. For His own reasons, He allows those. Sometimes we learn why and sometimes we don’t. But there are also those times when the Lord has a wake-up call in mind: “He is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (II Peter 3:9)
Has the Lord been trying to get your attention lately — or even for years on end? His loving patience with us is staggering — but we dare not take it for granted. The devil would have us think that surrendering our life, our will, completely unto God’s control would result in a prudish, rigid, boring life of surrendering everything we love to a whip-cracking, demanding, capricious taskmaster. Satan is the master of fatal elixirs: the mixing of truth with error. It is true that we are to commit all that we have and are into God’s hands — but with that surrender comes a multiplicity of promises from Him so that we will never regret that decision! I think Isaiah 49:23 summarizes these myriad Biblical guarantees; God’s promise to us is that: “Those who hope in Me will not be disappointed.”