LOSING SOME OF MY SANCTIFICATION

 4341

I was scheduled to speak in the Wednesday night service at church that evening.

(I just didn't know it yet).

Wouldn't know it 'til later in the afternoon.

At the time, I was pedaling my bike down the sidewalk, as I tend to do five days a week. (Keeps my weight down to a stealthy 225).

And, as I approached the local McDonald's hamburger joint, and I was about to cross a two lane access road next to the restaurant, I noticed a small sedan preparing to enter the highway. And, as I am prone to do before passing in front of a vehicle, I attempted to make eye contact with the driver.

Apparently, to no avail.

For as I asserted my right of way, (after all, I was on the sidewalk, and pedaling a non-motorized vehicle), the car accelerated. And given the closing speed, and distance between my bike and his automobile, I realized I was close to finding myself beneath the front wheels of his weighty conveyance. 

I immediately gripped my handbrakes. 3 feet. 2 feet. 1foot.

Both the driver, and I came to a screeching halt at the same moment.

And rather than lying prostrate beneath the wheels of the sedan, the driver's forward momentum had taken him sufficient distance that the front wheel of my bicycle was an inch away from leaving a small dent in the passenger door of his vehicle.

And it was about then that I temporarily lost some of my sanctification. (Yeah, I did).

I screamed loud enough so that the man, or possibly woman, (I didn't pause long enough to distinguish the gender of the driver), would hear me through the closed window.

"Aren't you gonna stop?"

And with that, I pedaled my bike behind the car, and never looked back.

Another near miss. (For whatever reason, God has granted me ten or twelve near misses in the course of my three quarters of a century on this planet).

Arriving home six or eight minutes later, I rolled my bike into the garage, walked in the adjoining door, and sat down at my desktop computer. And then, my trusty flip phone rang.

"Dr. Bill, this is Pastor Scott. I'm not feeling well, and I was wondering if you could fill in for me in church tonight?"

(and)

"I realize it's late in the afternoon, and it wouldn't give you much time to prepare."

I assured the pastor that I had a myriad of previous teachings which I could choose from, and that I'd be happy to fill in.

Of course, I immediately brought up my e-copies of the countless messages I had delivered over the years, and sensed an inclination to share a particular message. 

And it so happened that a significant portion of this message alluded to Jim Elliot and his four missionary friends who were unceremoniously martyred in Ecuador, on this very date, in 1956.

The title of the message?

Dying to Self

I immediately thought of my recent interaction with the careless driver, and the "blessing" I had bestowed upon him.

God certainly has a sense of humor!

by Bill McDonald, PhD