15 lives?

I am fortunate to be sitting here writing these words today. Saturday my wife and I went horseback riding in order to accommodate a video shoot for a photographer/cinematographer. Afterwards I unsaddled the horses and led them into the pasture and removed their bridles. I released my horse Dusty, first, and then I walked Ranger, (the horse my wife was riding), into the pasture.

As I led Ranger through the gate, several other horses were congregating around it. Ranger is gentle towards people, but a dominant aggressive horse towards the herd. He started laying his ears back and flaring his nostrils at them, a sure sign that he was getting mad because they were standing near him. As I tried to remove his bridal he reared up and I couldn’t get the bit out of his mouth. Just then it came loose and he immediately attacked the other horses; they in turn wheeled around to run away, and you guessed it, trampled me in the process.

My wife watched in horror as in an instant three horses knocked me off my feet,trampled me, and thundered away. For me, watching the three horses run over me was eerily reminiscent of having a car wreck and flipping over and over again and wondering with each flip whether or not I would die with the next sickening loud crunch of the car hitting the pavement. It all happened in a millisecond, but time just seemed to slow down enough for me to think about it as each of the three horses ran over me.

When I hit the ground my head snapped back and slammed into the dirt and I momentarily blacked out. My wife told me that I rolled over and over down a little slope and then came to a motionless stop. She was screaming at me asking if I was all right. I was semi-conscious and could hear her screaming, but couldn’t seem to move or talk. She screamed again and again asking if I was all right. I remember thinking I can’t answer because I don’t really know what to tell her; I think I might be seriously hurt. Finally she shouted, “SAY SOMETHING!”

In an effort to calm her down I softly told her I was all right, and I struggled to sit upright. I was dizzy and hurting. She opened the gate and came running in to try to help me to my feet. One of the horses had stomped my foot, my chest hurt like the dickens and I was having trouble breathing, my tail bone felt like it was broken, my nose and teeth hurt where the lead horse had slammed into me and bowled me over, my wrist felt sprained, and I had a knot on the back of my head and a splitting headache.

As I sit here I hurt all over my body. My foot is black and blue, my chest is aching, I have a few scrapes and abrasions on the back of my head, and my tail bone is really sore, so sore in fact that it hurts to even sit on a pillow.

I am content however; and feel good to have weathered yet another of life’s storms. I think that if I were a cat I would have already used up all of my nine lives and maybe even a few of my litter mate’s too.

I seem to continue to have harrowing experiences on occasion, but so far anyway I have survived.

Why?

I can only surmise that God wants to remind me now and then not to get too comfortable or content with this life because it is oh so fragile and can end in an instant. The Bible tells us that we should think of our deaths often and perhaps that is the reason why.

Many people tell me that they get little to nothing out of the Bible, even though they read it and attend church regularly.

Hmmm…

Yikes I hope it doesn’t take a near death experience to get their attention. I will admit that this type of lesson is definitely effective and certainly gets mine, but I would much prefer reading about things in the Bible and then quietly reflect upon them, rather than being trampled first by a couple of frightened horses and then a very mad horse.

I am convinced that the deep things of God will never be understood by the world outside of Jesus Christ. We can learn about Him through persistent study of our Bibles and in Bible believing/preaching churches, because the Bible is His chosen method of communication. He has other ways to reach us, but as I can attest, some of His learning supplements can be very tough lessons in life.

If you haven’t thought about your own death and the brevity of this life lately, I urge you to do so right now. We know that there is no escaping death. We can try as hard as we can to avoid it, but the grim reaper sitting on his pale horse will assuredly pay a visit to each of us at our appointed time. He is deaf and blind to all tears, prayers, and pleadings. And the medical world and all of their technology and science are helpless in deterring him from his work. You see he “must” come to us, for he is sent by divine appointment; “It is appointed unto men once to die.” Therefore we need to understand the importance of yielding our will to the Spirit of God while there is yet time.

And after our death appointment – Then what?

And then the judgment.

Another reason to read that Bible and perhaps try a little harder to get something out of it this time – Eh?

Hebrews 9:27
And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,