November 3, 2021 – Click here to listen
Well, here we go again with the Keys receiving a tropical storm warning and prediction that the storm that is currently in Cuba would hit us on Saturday morning. Lots of wind, heavy rain, lightning, and possible tornados are predicted.
I have been disgusted with my bad luck because I had planned a trip to the Bahamas for this week and one of my best friends was going to come down to go with me, but his wife’s car had serious issues and he had to cancel this week to fix her car. Then I noticed that the sonar on my boat went out. I can’t fish without a depth and fish-finder so I reluctantly postponed my trip yesterday until I can get it repaired. Now I learn it was very fortunate for me because a tropical storm is on the way and as I look outside it is terrible weather.
Whew! Thank you, Jesus! I would hate to be trying to cross the Gulf Stream in a tropical storm.
I was thinking about this today and I just cannot get over how God delivers me from near tragedy time and time again. My eyesight is so bad in the dark that I cannot drive at night anymore. When my wife and I were in Alaska recently we signed up for a bush plane ride in the Denali region. One of the highlights was to land on a glacier. We had to leave long before daylight, so she drove. She had taken a motion sickness pill and unbeknownst to me was getting drowsy from it as we drove the 2-hour long drive to the tiny airport in the black darkness. Suddenly I saw the car veer to the right heading right towards a very steep and very deep embankment. I yelled at her as I grabbed the wheel and fought to keep it on the road. She awoke and we avoided a car wreck that would have most likely killed us both. I thought the plane ride and landing on a glacier would be the adventurous part, but it was relatively tame comparatively speaking.
I have had so many near death experiences that it is difficult to understand why I am still alive and kicking. The only thing I can figure is that God has a plan and a purpose for my life, and it has not been completed. It is understandable that Satan would want me to quit being a pain in his neck, but God has His angels watching over me and protecting me.
Do we even have guardian angels? It cannot be emphatically answered from Scripture whether or not each believer has a guardian angel assigned to him. But God does use angels in ministering to us. Jesus said in Matthew 18:10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” The words “their angels” refers to the fact that believers are served by angels in general. These angels are pictured as “always” watching the face of God so as to hear His command to them to help a believer when it is needed. The angels in this passage do not seem to be guarding a person so much as being attentive to the Father in heaven. The active duty or oversight seems to come from God rather than from the angels, which makes perfect sense because God alone is omniscient. He sees every believer at every moment, and He alone knows when one of us needs the intervention of an angel. Because they are continually seeing His face, the angels are at His disposal to help one of His “little ones.” I love that about Him.
I have been in two head on collisions, three vehicles that rolled multiple times, one car accident where I was T-boned doing 80 miles an hour, a motorcycle crash, had two drug overdoses, been shot at multiple times, bitten by a five-foot eastern diamondback rattlesnake, trampled by three horses, lived to see another day after vicious fights, survived cancer and on and on. Was one of God’s angels looking at the face of God almighty and receiving the nod to intervene, or was I just luckier than a herd of “9-live” cats? I believe God kept me alive to accomplish His purpose for my life and dispatched an angel or a flock of them to rescue me more times than I care to think about.
I strive to glorify God and HATE it when I fail. My number one priority is to tell others about Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for my black sins and how He deeply loves us no matter what is in our past. Somewhere-somehow I hope to reach a single individual or many of them for Christ and plant the seed for the Holy Spirit to close the deal. Why, it is the very reason that I write Words for the Day . . .
2 Kings 6:13
When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.