Advent-ure Day 17: Jumping From the Truck

God is alive!  And, He sent His Son to the earth to die and to be raised from the dead so that each of
us may have new life. Romans 6 says:
11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

We are alive in Christ; and He wants to us recognize that He is living and that He empowers us to walk in newness of life.  We serve a living God who is very, very active in and around our lives.  He communicates with us by His Spirit according to His Word, and we can have deep, meaningful fellowship with Him as we call upon Him and be sensitive to His response.  He is working according to His plan and we have the assurance that He is working for the good of those who love Him and are called according to that purpose.

+++++

The Christmas song for today, as part of our Christmas Advent-ure, is I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.  The operative lyric that is in the Faith Radio Advent Guide is this: "God is not dead nor doth he sleep! The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail, With peace on earth, goodwill to men!"

Doesn't that just sum up the message of Christmas?  And, just as those Christmas bells offer a message of proclamation, we can be reminded that we serve an active God, who created each and every human being in His image, who wants to bring us into a relationship with Himself, and who is at work in our lives.  He is an active God - He interjected Himself into this world as a man, so that we might have peace with Him and proclaim to people how they can be at peace with each other.  He used angels in Luke 2:14 to communicate His truth:
14 "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

By giving God the glory and focusing on Him, people can learn to experience the peace that passes all understanding through the Prince of Peace.

We know that our active God, our Heavenly Father, is desiring to communicate with His people.  Now, most of us, I would dare say, will not hear an audible voice.  But, He is speaking to us, consistent with His Word, and is very, very involved in our everyday lives.

Case in point:  Jordan Cole and Kenneth Bryant were driving a food truck from Montana to Philadelphia for a pastors' conference.  The MudMan truck, is, according to Fox 8 television in Cleveland, "part of a non-profit that sells hamburgers to raise money for Potter’s Field Ministries," which is a ministry that, according to Bryant, is "Providing food and other resources."

The truck they were driving broke down in Ohio recently.  The Fox 8 story says:

Bryant and Cole stayed with the vehicle while the others took a van to go get a repair part.

“He was in the cab of the truck and I was in the back,” Bryant said. “I was using a generator in the back to charge our cellphones.”

We are told that Bryant suddenly experienced "a pretty predominant thought that the truck was going to get hit."  The story goes on:

He immediately grabbed his phone and jumped out of the vehicle, at the same time Cole was jumping out of the front cab.

They both made it out with only seconds to spare before the entire food truck was crushed and mangled beyond recognition.

The semi driver sustained only minor injuries. The article relates that, "Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers who responded to the accident told FOX 8 the men most certainly would’ve been killed had they been inside the vehicle during impact."

Cole is quoted as saying, "We heard a voice, and it was to get out of the truck and I look down and I saw a semi swerving toward us..." Bryant said, "God kept us safe, God kept us alive..." He also stated, "We’ve come to the conclusion that it was Jesus,” adding, “He allowed this to happen for me to be able to share this story...for people to know that our Heavenly Father is mindful of us.”

The story states:

The men feel strongly that they were spared because they have a purpose in this world.

This Christmas, they hope people will be inspired by their story and realize that they’re just as important and have a purpose too.

They continued their journey to Philadelphia, by the way.  And, they served up some burgers, according to the MudMan Facebook page!

Again, very few of us, I would project, will hear the audible voice of God in the manner that Moses did, but that doesn't mean that God isn't communicating with us.  One truth we can rely on is that: God is speaking.  And, the primary way that He does that is through His Word.  We are also told that the children of God are led by the Spirit.  These two men believe they were rescued because the Lord intervened in their lives - they were warned about an imminent danger.

You know, we can find ourselves in danger in our lives - physically and even spiritually.  Perhaps, according to His will, the Lord will intervene; He may even send angels in to steer us away from trouble or keep it from happening to us.  When we look back and see how we may have been spared tragedy in our lives, we can give God praise for His intervention.  Because, we can know that God is speaking...and God is working.

We may not see the evidence of His hand when we are in the middle of a perilous situation, but we can possibly reflect and gain understanding of what He may have been doing in the midst of our trying time.  And, even though deliverance may not come when and how we think it should, we can still know that He is at work according to His plan.

Because, for the child of God, He has a purpose for our lives, and we can be assured that God is using those who are willing.  He determines what that will look like, but we decide if we are willing to follow His will.  Because, if we walk in rebellion or reject His instruction, even though He may make it clear to us, then we put ourselves in a vulnerable position.  We have to make sure that we are walking according to His ways and that we are determined to be pleasing to Him.