Life Unexpected
I’ve had a couple of unexpected and unpleasant life experiences recently, one of which was a motorcycle accident. I survived it with injuries that, while painful, could easily have been far worse. I was blessed and well aware of God’s hand of protection around me.
Someone said to me, “It sounds like your riding gear should get the credit, not God. If God was really with you, why didn’t he keep the accident from happening in the first place?”
That’s a profound question.
There are many books filled with theological postulations and ponderings on that very subject, but my answer is straightforward and simple:
We live in a world that is corrupted. Bad things do happen.
That corruption is the result not of the Creator, but of the Created. Nothing is left untouched.
God loves his creation—us—so much that he allows us to make our own choices, good or bad. He does not force anyone do things His way. He respects our “no”.
We have the option to use wisdom or foolishness to navigate through the challenges of life. Life is neither controlled, pristine, nor easy. It takes a bit of wherewithal to do it, but God has already provided the necessary resources.
Wisdom dictates combinations of choices in the face of complex circumstances.
The ultimate results—and any path toward them—are inherently uncertain and carry with them both risks and 0potential rewards.
It is my individual responsibility to make the best choices I can with what I know and entrust the results to God. In other words, that’s the application of wisdom and the practice of faith.
God has a long-range plan that is enacted despite worldly degradation and unwise choices.
I made a choice to ride that motorcycle. I have five decades of experience and training. I have a well-maintained and engineered motorcycle. I was exercising appropriate caution in my driving, and I had on appropriate protective gear. And, yes, all that was directly a part of why I’m able to write this to you now.
Yet God was with me throughout the entire process, from the start of my ride right up until the moment I arrived back home, even as I spent most of the day in the ER. He was with me when I purchased the bike some years ago. He was with me when I first put my rear end on a mini-bike as a child. He was with me when I was in my mother’s womb. He knew me and the many things he had in store for me.
And He has an even bigger plan to redeem this corrupted world of which am I part, a plan that goes back before the dawn of time.
So, yes, I do trust God and His plan. I give Him the glory, because my trust in Him is not shaken by the motorcycle wrecks and other storms of life. My trust is strengthened because He is right there with me…in the midst of them.
Mark Bradberry
October 20, 2022