I’m recovering from a bad fall.

This past Sunday our Church (Riverview Baptist) and St Luke’s Methodist came together to collect soup for the hungry. Together we raised over 7000 cans of soup to distribute through the local non-profit Harvest Share. I think Christ followers ought to do good. Jesus tells us to do good. He said:

Galatians 6:9-10 (KJV) And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. 10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. 

We do good by reaching out to those in need in the name of Jesus. So as community Churches we are trying to feed our community in Christ’s name and for His glory. We met together at the local Community Center following our respective Church services, fellowshipped together, and worshiped our Lord. At the end of the meeting we had to put up the tables and chairs, cleaning the center before we left.

That’s when I fell.

The tables and chairs had to be returned to a store room, and on the floor of the room someone had placed strips of wood to keep items from sliding on the floor. That’s what took me down, gravity and a wood slat. My right heel caught on a slat and I went down face first onto the hardwood floor. Both my arms were under my body when I hit, and I sprained my left elbow and my right wrist. Sunday night I could not go to bed, but had to sleep in a recliner, pillows tucked about me to keep me from rolling over on my hurt arms. Two days later my right hand is puffed up like a balloon, my left arm cannot be bent. OUCH!

And God is not to blame.

We all like to blame God when something bad happens, but God is not to blame. Just before I fell another person tripped over one of these slats. I saw her trip. I warned her, “Be careful, don’t fall”. Then two minutes later I ignored the warning. I did the same thing, only worse. I tripped but did not catch myself. God showed me what could happen, but I didn’t pay attention.

God is not to blame.

God is not to blame for HIV or AIDS. He tells us to be sexually chaste, but as foolish people we don’t listen. We make excuses. We shake our fist at Heaven. We ignore His warnings, and do the wrong thing. We play with matches, and set our homes on fire.

God is not to blame.

God is not to blame because we have no cure for cancer or Alzheimer’s or any number of horrible diseases. God tells us that life is precious and comes with great potential. So we abort babies. We as a nation have killed over 50,000 lives, many of which could have grown up to be a Pasteur or a Schweitzer or a Curare, a person who could have cured our diseases. We ignored the Sovereign wisdom of God in His Word and are paying for it.

God is not to blame.

God is not to blame when have an accident because we drove our cars impaired by alcohol, drugs, or by texting on our cell phones. He is not to blame when someone is killed because we operate a vehicle impaired by age long past the time we should be driving and run a child over. This happened to an older lady I knew years ago, a lady now with Jesus. She ran an eight year old child over with her car while the child was checking the mailbox for his mother. She didn’t even know she had run him over until the Sheriff came to the door of her home. She didn’t see the child, and shouldn’t have ben driving. Think about this if you are in your 80s and arguing with your children that you must keep driving at night though you can barely see in the daylight.

God is not to blame.

God is not to blame for terrorists, or for  9-11. We let people come into our country without vetting them because of some strange sense of “we’re all refugees and immigrants and want to let EVERYONE into the country because WE JUST LOVE THEM”.  I suspect there isn’t a day that goes by that a Native American doesn’t wish his or her ancestors hadn’t have better vetted the Europeans that came to these North American shores. When people come in they make changes, and those who hate American freedoms will try and destroy that freedom. Terrorists learn to fly in our schools then, hijacking aircraft, kill nearly 4000 of our people. We cry out “God, where were You? How dare You allow this to happen?” and yet riot and hinder when the President wants to control and vet the unknown. We have lost our American minds.

God is not to blame.

We are to blame. I am to blame for my fall. I saw the slats and ignored the warnings. Now I thank God that He didn’t allow me to break my fool neck, or my arms and legs. I thank God that there was nothing sharp in the way when I fell. I thank God that I can still type and feed myself with this ballooned up hand. Thank You, Lord, that I didn’t have to take a $1000 ride to the hospital on a screaming ambulance. And God …

Give us all as Americans the sense to stop blaming You and start being accountable for our own lives. Give these people rioting the “sense God gave a billy goat” as my momma used to say. It’s time we wake up, look up, and heed Your good Grace. Thank You, Lord, for loving us all and for this great Country we live in. Thank You for today. And Lord, make me cautious, make us ALL cautious of the slats and the cracks in the floor of life.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen!