And Now It's Coming for Us

“And Now It’s Coming For Us”

“But let all who take refuge in You rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread Your protection over them, that those who love Your name may exult in you. For You bless the righteous, O Lord; You cover him with favor as with a shield.” Psalms 5:11-12 (ESV)

“It was a dark and stormy night”…That’s how all the stories that have been written by the beloved dog of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, begin. Well this night was dark and it was kind of stormy but we went to watch the Phillies play the Marlins anyway. My wife had got tickets to this baseball game and we went as a family. We do this once a year and the girls, Kathy my wife and Karen my daughter, are done with going to Phillies games for the rest of the season. We always seem to go early in the season…so it’s always chilly when we go.

It had gotten to the point of the game where it had become clear to me that it was time to go. My daughter wanted to stay until the game was over but “My Father Knows Best” took over and I said that between the weather and folks that may have had too much to drink and then get behind the wheel we needed to get a jump on leaving so nothing goes wrong. I wasn’t ready for what happened next. On the way to the Walt Whitman Bridge a car cut us off making an illegal left turn and was hit by a drunk driver who really had the right of way. And then the car with the drunk driver came right at us…HEAD ON!! And he hit us head on…BUT God had his hand on us!!

The passengers in the car making said turn needed an ambulance, the drunk driver needed stitches in his head and all that happened to us was a very small amount of damage to my wife’s car. The license plate looks like a piece of aluminum foil. God had his hand on us. When we got done looking around and seeing how bad it really had been for the other people involved we publicly praised God that we were ok and that no one had been killed. Even the tow truck drivers that were there (and there was five of them before the police got there) acknowledged that this must have been God’s work. Well in their own special South Philly way. And I do miss that part of growing up in Philadelphia.

Now I’ll tell there was much in the way of a joy from being saved from this destruction of metal and machine. In the book of Philippians, Phil 4:4-6 (ESV), we are told, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” So really our focused joy must be placed in our Savior, Jesus Christ! There is no mistaking that God favors the righteous; He will surround them with grace like a protective shield.

Had we not been a family or for all I know families that knew that God has His hand in everything, things on this kinda dark and sorta stormy night could have turned out a lot worse. There was an accident up the street and that one didn’t go very well for those folks. We had to wait for those police officers at that accident to come to ours. And when they came onto our scene they didn’t look so good but were glad that this accident wasn’t as messy as it could have been. Even though the insurance companies are trying to be the killjoy’s in the aftermath of this night our family has once again seen the mighty hand of Righteous God hold His people in His grip. -- Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a frequent contributor to Freedom Fighter

Digging Deeper: Proverbs 1; 1 Kings 10-11; Luke 21:20-38

Dig This Quote:“If we had strength and faith enough to trust our selves entirely to God and to follow Him simply wherever He should lead us, we would have no need of any great effort of mind to reach perfection. But since we are so weak in faith that we need to know the entire way rather than simply trust in God, our road is lengthened and our spiritual affairs get behind. Abandon yourself as absolutely as possible to God, and continue to do so to your latest breath; and He will never desert you. Letter 26 -- Absolute trust is the shortest road to God -- Fenelon

Determined Digging: Level 1: Proverbs 3:5-6; Level 2: Psalm 62:5-8

We are coming down to the home stretch approaching our Family Freedom Walk on May 8th. Have you made your pledge today? Are we going to let the VICTORY CALL ladies beat the FREEDOM FIGHTER guys? Call today and make your pledge. It can mean the difference of life and death for a man who needs the Colony of Mercy: 732-350-1187 ext. 22. Please let Ruth Schmidt know you are a Freedom Fighter! I appreciate you!