STANDING IN FOR GRACE

Forward

I can’t account for it, but as I was preparing my lunch, (well, my TV dinner), I suddenly experienced the compulsion to breathe a silent prayer for those parents who would lose a child today; (which I proceeded to do).

And strangely enough, not two minutes later my wife said,

“I just saw an obituary for a local three year old boy.” (And with that, she proceeded to show me a picture of the cutest little tyke which you can imagine).

Pt. 1

Among the most amazing of miracles which I have experienced is a series of “near misses” which have accompanied me during my young, middle and older adult years.

During the course of my job at a phosphate mine, and while working the evening shift, I walked between a dragline and its massive swinging bucket, as it did what it did best. However, in spite of the darkness which surrounded me, the operator witnessed my predicament and dropped the twenty ton bucket against the slope of the deep pit which he had been digging. I was only moments from certain death.

Then, there was the time when I was driving home from work one day, and managed to flip my car on a rain-soaked road. Having rolled off the road and onto the shoulder, it came to rest on its wheels; resulting in plenty of damage to the automobile, and little or none to me.

Then again, in the past couple of decades my wife and I were nearing our house one day, along that same stretch of road which I walk on a recurring basis, when a car ran a stop sign; perhaps fifty feet ahead of us. My wife immediately locked up the brakes of our 1980 something green Oldsmobile. In the other car, two little children stared out their rear window at us; abject terror registering on their faces.

There was no question. Someone, or multiple someone’s were about to die. However, as I sat on the passenger side of the vehicle I was struck with the strangest possibility of escape. Assuming the position of driver from the unlikeliest of positions, I wrested the steering wheel from my wife with my left hand, and I managed to steer our car behind the offending vehicle. Having missed the automobile by all of a foot, our car immediately went into a 180 degree spin, and finally came to rest next to the border fence of a nearby home; our frontend facing in the direction which our backend had been facing only moments before.

Pt. 2

But allow me to digress a moment.

"Grace" was a classmate of mine, though a year behind me in school. And while I don’t recall exchanging so much as one word with her, we were both members of our high school chorus.

Grace was the daughter of a local minister of music, and his wife, was a fine Christian girl, was a member of several high school academic and vocational groups, and was blessed with plenty of friends.

Sadly, at the tender age of 17, and just three months before her high school graduation Grace was involved in a one vehicle accident, and succumbed to her injuries.

I mean, who can account for it? The loss of such a person of excellence and rich potential? Not only this, but it seems she surrendered her life to providence “first time out;” at such a young and inestimably unfair age.

Yet, I have experienced a significant number of what I often refer to as “near misses,” (or near death experiences) during the course of my life, and I have only recounted a few here.

Did I mention my sensitivity to my environment seems to be heightened in the wee hours of the morning? Then, last night perhaps one of the most amazing, although subtle miracles I have been privileged to experience.

As I was in the process of completing my hour long walk, I heard, (or rather perceived) the voice.

“I want you to stand in for Grace.”

(Even as I type these words, a shiver runs up my spine).

Afterward

Granted, it was only a perception. But this perception literally “came out of nowhere.” I hadn’t been thinking of Grace, nor any of several long lost classmates who “left us before their time.”

…“I want you to stand in for Grace.”

As someone who has been directly associated with various helping ministries over the course of half a century, (including the roles of pastor, professor, youth leader, mentor and counselor) I like to think I have made a difference in multiplied thousands of lives.

Yet, in spite of everything which has already fallen together in my life, hardly a day goes by that I don’t whisper a prayer.

“Lord, please don’t let me miss out on whatever still remains of my destiny. Please don’t allow me to miss out on each and every circumstance and event you have planned for me, and the people whom you have yet to set in my pathway.”

Now, at the grand old age of 70, it seems God has appointed me to be a personal emissary for that dear precious soul who never had the opportunity to live out a long and fulfilling life on the earth.

And whether my persuasion is just a personal figment, or whether Almighty God has truly chosen me for a mission, I can think of no greater, more worthy, or more fulfilling task than to stand in for that lovely young lady who was deprived of an opportunity to live, and move, and breathe, and to fulfill her God-given potential on the earth.

by William McDonald, PhD. Copyright pending