When Mercy Comes Running

No, my silence isn’t because I’ve fallen off the face of the earth, I’ve just had a hard week. Saturday night, my husband and I were awakened in the middle of the night to find out that our son had fallen asleep at the wheel and totaled his car on the HIGHWAY!!

The amazing thing is he walked away without one scratch, cut, or bruise…not one from a car that had been smashed to pieces! That’s not all that was amazing. A 50 foot guard rail caught his car as it spun out of control and kept it from crossing over into on coming traffic. Wait, there is more. The police officer spoke to my son as if it were God himself speaking.

“Son, I’m glad to find that you are clean of alcohol and drugs, but there’s no good reason to be out this time of night. I’ve seen many wrecks like this one, and, well son, your parents should standing over your dead body in the funeral home this morning. If I were you, I wouldn’t go home and go to bed. I’d head for the nearest church and thank God for saving your life. He obviously has good reason.”

What a word of truth! The whole thing was unexplainable and undeniable. It had to be God at work. In the midst of immaturity and bad choices, mercy came running to protect my son from himself.

Although Mitch is not drinking or doing drugs, he is still living a life apart from God by simply living for himself. What happens to these teens once they get out of high school? We tried to make Mitch’s faith his own. I often feel guilty and search the past for clues about where we went wrong. Then, God seems to whisper to my heart…”Micca, you did teach him. Still, each person has their own choice to make. You can’t make it for Him. But don’t you worry. Don’t you fear. I’ve got my eye on him.”

Never has it been so clear that God, indeed, has His hand on Mitch than in the midst of this wreck. You see, I pray daily for God to protect Mitch. I ask Him to make Himself real to Mitch. I ask God to give Mitch a hungry and thirst for God and godliness. Well, God answered.

Often times it is adversity in our lives that bring us to the end of ourselves and make us desperate for God. I’m convinced that is what God is doing in Mitch’s life because he does have a plan and purpose for him. And…even though it appears bad, it’s really a good thing.

I prayed and mercy came running. What a glorious God!!

That same weekend, a 16 year old boy who is in my daughter’s youth group at church was not so fortunate. Depressed, he took a gun, held it to his head, and killed himself. Our church family is numb with grief.

As a result of Evan’s death, my daughter asked me a some hard questions this week.

“Mom, why did Mitch live and Evan die? Mom, where was God when Evan was afraid, alone, and depressed?”

Those are hard questions. I don’t know the answer but I do know that God is always the same no matter what. So I told my daughter that even though it may not look like it to us, in Evan’s greatest hour of need…mercy came running. In fact, it came before then.

Evan attended the Labor Day youth trip the passed holiday and received Christ as his personal Savior and Lord. You might call that pre-mercy if you will.

So, I explained to my daughter that Evan was never alone because there’s no where we can go to escape God’s presence. Jesus was with Evan the whole time. When Evan lifted the gun to his head and pulled the trigger….mercy came running. Falling back into the arms of his Savior, I’m convinced that he heard Jesus say, “I’ve got you baby. Everything is alright now.”

One lives. One dies. I can’t explain that. But I do believe that in both cases mercy came running.

Until next time…God bless you and yours