This is sparked from conversations with my dawgs Jai and D-Train.
After you read this, please take between 45 seconds and 2 minutes to give God praise for Jesus Christ. If you don't want to get traditionally chruchy, just say something like:
God, I really appreciate that you had in mind to have Jesus die for sin so that I wouldn't have to. I understand that You hate sin and refuse to tolerate it; so somebody had to pay for that. But for some reason, you allowed Your Son to do that. Also, You made it possible that I could know who He is and could chill with Him. Now He's my best friend and I know You better because of what He did. Thanks a lot, real talk.
Or something similar in your own words. He is the absolute reason for my personal joy (not necessarily happiness), strength, health, and survival. Although the Lord has watched and shown mercy to me since I got here in 1978, when I acknowledged that Jesus was the Son of He who is great, my prosperity began to increase rapidly. Not only that, because one Sunday in the early 2000s I decided to call His Name, I am living and breathing.
I recall that good weather morning when we left another thought provoking lesson at Sharon Baptist Church Sunday School. I was fresh out of college but I always loved the interaction between the teachers and us. We were always free to challenge status quo's, investigate what being a child of the Living God was all about, and we were taught by men and women who were completely Holy Spirit filled. So from a kid to a young adult, Sharon Sunday School was the spot.
I digress--I jumped in the passenger seat of the Toyota 4Runner and rolled the window down to feel the lukewarm breeze. It was ya boy, Willie, Monica, and Monte; on the way to McDonald's for a quick breakfast sandwich before 11 o'clock service (something that usually never happens--not enough time). As we cruised down 1st St. we continued the good conversation from the lesson taught by Willie. Almost instantly, when we crossed Marshall St. right by Consolidated Bank, I noticed a black car flying toward us.
"Uh uh," I softly said. In the next second we were hit. The next second after that, which was actually nearly 10 minutes, I woke up laying on the asphalt. I could hear nor feel a thing. As my eyes slowly surveyed the scene I saw Monte with her face buried in her hands. I mouthed (I thought I was talking), "Monte, I'm cool". But in three short moments all my other four senses returned. First, I could hear the sounds of shock and worry from the Jackson Ward residents who had seen me starfished on the ground for 10 minutes. Next, I tasted the glass and rocks in my mouth; and I felt the heat of the street, and the blood running down my face. Lastly, I smelled the exhaust of both cars. I tried to get up to let Monte know I was fine, and with that first move a pain that I have never felt before or since shot through my body. My nerves felt as if they were destroyed, and I sensed that I was dying.
When the medics screamed at me to lay back down, they were clueless to know I didn't have a choice. I was completely paralyzed and hopeless for life. Clearly in a state of defeat, I remembered Mrs. Ola Mae Melvin, who years ago would tell us pre-teens that if we were in any type of trouble to call on the Name of Jesus--and He would come get us. So that's what I did. Naw, I wasn't a holy roller or a great man of faith. Nope, I wasn't immersed in the Word everyday; nor was I living anything like a Christian. I was, however, in a state in my life where I was trying to really know the Christ--and at this critical moment I was finding out.
Because of the pain and lack of oxygen, I started to barely say "Jesus." I did that from the street to the stretcher; up into the ambulance. All of a sudden, while hearing the beeps of the machines and the murmurs of the medics, I started saying "thank You Jesus." I noticed the medics stopped talking as I said this all the way to MCV. Once they put me on the hospital bed my body was instantly better. A few minutes later a doctor with a heavy East Asian accent came and told me some of the most beautiful words I had ever heard. He said, "you were in a terrible accident where most people would be dead or at least paralyzed, but somehow you will walk out of here today." My parents praised God in their own way but I was amazed with a more confident feel; because I fully understood why I was cleared to walk out of the hospital.
The old heads used to say, this is my story, this is my song; praising my Saviour, all the day long. And that's what it is. What you have read is one of mine, but I'm sure you have your own. So in the words of Smokey, "take advantage man, take advantage."
HALLELUJAH TO HE WHO SAVES LIVES AND MAKES THEM GREAT FOR HIS PURPOSE!!!
Peace
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