His Providential Care, (or Lack Thereof)

I titled this particular daily blog, “His Providential Care, (or Lack Thereof).”

An odd title, for sure. And yet it describes my joy, and at the same time quandary well.

For you see I have been rescued from almost certain death several times over the course of my relatively long life, while many of my classmates and peers, and even those whom I never had the privilege of knowing succumbed all too early; not having been given the opportunity to live out their potential.

I was 17, and driving home from a summer job. It was raining and I navigated a curve far too carelessly, and rolled my car.

One dark night while performing that same job I walked between my duty station and a dragline, and noticed, too late, that its massive bucket was sweeping my direction. However, the dragline operator, seeing me emerging from the fog, and with just a moment’s notice, dropped the great steel behemoth against the side of the pit from which he had been harvesting phosphate.

Just two of several providential miracles during the course of my own life which allowed me to continue moving and breathing to this day.

But then there was a classmate named “Beth,” a dear Christian girl, and member of my high school choral group whose boyfriend drove his car into a deep culvert on a rainy night. He escaped almost unscathed. Beth didn’t. They say she died instantly.

And there was another classmate named “Robbie” who, when just out of high school, was drafted into Uncle Sam’s army; and laid down his life on a Vietnamese battlefield.

How are we to explain such seeming discrepancies?

Is it simply just a cause and effect sort of thing? Is it a “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction” kind of thing? Does God value my life more than the lives of those whom He chose to take before their time? Is it simply a matter of His being finished with them at the point in time when their death angel visited; but not yet finished with me? Has our Lord been careful to exercise His providential care over me, but not so careful to exercise that same care over them? Is it, as some would have us believe, just a hand of cards, or throw of the dice?

Like the movie character Jenny of “Forrest Gump” fame. In one memorable scene we see her throwing rocks at that old house in which she endured horrendous abuse by her father. And finally slumping to her knees, she lies prostrate on the ground in exhaustion. With this Forrest exclaims,

“Sometimes I guess there’s just not enough rocks.”

Well, in relation to my quandary, I think sometimes there’s just not enough

… answers.

My clear-eyed, goal-oriented classmates  have gone on to their reward, and their inestimable potential continues to stretch to the horizon, but will always remain a theory. I only know I intend to live out my life, and achieve my destiny. To do less would deny my fallen friends the honor they deserve.

By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "(Mc)Donald's Daily Diary" Vol. 4