Have you ever been driving when all of a sudden a deer pops out of the bushes and sprints across the road just yards in front of you? You probably hit the brakes and the deer moves on…....
"Daddy, my heart just jumped up into my head!” is how one young daughter described her experience in this type of situation.
About 3 minutes later ANOTHER deer jumped out from the brush on the left side of the road and sprinted across the road… kicking the car with its hoof on the way across! The next thing was Daddy saying, “Ahhh” then feeling the thumps of the ABS (anti-lock brake system) kick on as they came to a halt.
It was a suuuuuuper close call. After that he found himself driving quite slowly through the backroads… white knuckling the steering wheel- ready for any threats from surrounding wildlife. Expecting that any moment…WHAM! Another deer may jump out. But it never happened.
You see, pain is sorta like this. When you experience pain while lifting, or bending, or moving in a certain way- you become gun shy… You begin to think things like…“Oh no, I hope this doesn’t hurt.” OR “I bet I’ll pay for this tomorrow.” You begin scanning your body for symptoms by “checking in” to see how things are feeling… or even poking your thumb into your area of pain to see if it “still hurts.” (it does) We begin to feel tense, worried, or even fearful of moving throughout life because of the pain we experience. And, before ya know it- life becomes a little less enjoyable.
This little scenario echoes my experience. Many years ago I was coming down our stairs from our bedroom. When I was part way down, my right foot decided to continue on down the stairs while my left foot decided to stay in place. The end of that story was a fall and put me in a position that I could not extract myself from. I wanted to call for help or rather the noise from the fall and my response to the fall brought my husband to the top of the stairs to see what had happened! There was nothing he could do and eventually I had to manage to get myself out of the predicament. But it was so painful and so terrifying that I have never ever forgotten the experience. I cannot go down the stairs without remembering that fall and the possibility that I can fall down the stairs when I least expect that I could fall.
The pain is like remembering that deer come out when you least expect them and can cause you to have an accident. My experience with the pain has made me always
think-- things like…“Oh no, I hope this doesn’t hurt.” OR “I bet I’ll pay for this tomorrow.” You begin scanning for trouble. We begin to feel tense, worried, or even fearful of moving throughout life because of the pain we experience. And, before ya know it—life becomes a little less enjoyable. I have had cautions about how to be careful post-surgery and not fall, not stress the new hip in certain ways, how to never bend over and pick things up, how to move in bed, how to use the bathroom, how to get back to exercising, how to put on my clothes and on and on and on! Part of me has wanted to say--don't worry about me! I have had so much pain that I will make absolutely sure that I do not fall. In fact, I might be a little too careful to not take any safety risks. I like to know that I am safe! I have grown to want the extra assurance of using a walker—it helps me feel safe.
I do not want the results of my neglect of proper attention to safe living and to pay for that neglect. I do not want to fall when I am out and about—just as I do not want to fall to Satan's temptations. Most of us drive safely because we do not want to pay for the results of unsafe driving. And if you have ever had an accident, you are probably extra cautious in traffic.
I do not want to undo what I have waited so long for—the hip surgery! I will obey the warnings and cautions and learn to live safely.
The question I have for myself, do I obey the warnings of how to be assured of living safely each day in order to be able to live with God? Am I assured of arriving safely to my destination--coming down the stairs, walking around the house, to visit the bathroom safely, drive in the car safely land most of all, arrive in Heaven to live forever in the safety of God for eternity!
Why do we say "close call"? A close call is a situation in which something bad, unpleasant, or dangerous almost happens, but you manage to avoid it: An example could be--It was a close call for residents when a tornado swept through just west of the town. A close call is a term that describes a situation where an accident or undesirable outcome was narrowly avoided, highlighting the potential danger that existed. Why do we say "close call"? What does too close to call mean? Resulting in too narrow a margin to make a decision, as in That ball didn't miss by much but it was too close to call , or The election was too close to call, so they decided to have a runoff . We have close calls when an instance in which danger is barely avoided. We might call the close call a squeaker, cliffhanger, narrow escape, close shave, a near thing, a near miss, a narrow squeak, a hairbreadth escape, near escapee, a close thing, a close squeeze, a heart stopper, a lucky escape, tight squeeze, white-knuckler, dodged bullet, near hit, narrow miss, thriller, shocker, spine-chiller. We can have close calls when we are in cars, planes or trains, even bicycles. You can lose your balance and have a close call when it comes to falling. Elections have close calls. Garry has had many near falls and actual falls due to lack of balance. His actual falls have injured his shoulder and other things that have caused him to regret falling.
We have long been told that God has a remnant church and people in that church may appear to fall. We are assured that the church will not fall, even though it may appear to be close to doing so. The church will remain while sinners in Zion are separated from the faithful, and only those who have overcome through the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony will remain. The idea of God's remnant church is based on biblical references to a group of people who remain faithful to God's commandments and teachings, even when others have fallen into moral decline or apostasy. Noah and his family are an example of a remnant people in the Bible. And that small remnant of people survived one of the worst disasters to ever come to this world. It was a close call but that small family remained faithful and they survived triumphantly.
I do not want to fall! I do not want to fall post-surgery for sure. I do not want to have a scary close call when it comes to falling. No one wants to fall off the path to heaven. I for certain want to keep on the path that leads me to the promised land. And I want to invite you to walk with me on the path and not fall.
I will NOT fall!