I was running late this morning because of a dentist appointment and expected to have a smooth commute, so I was annoyed when I hit a significant delay. I chalked it up to a fender bender or construction. I was about a hundred yards away when I noticed the vehicles ahead of me were pulling to either side of the highway. As we inched a long, I worked my way to the left side of the road and in a moment I realized it was an accident that was holding us up. I saw a large SUV that didn’t seem to have any damage, but there were a lot of people pulled off on the side of the road and many standing in front of the SUV. As I pulled past the SUV I understood the full extent of what had happened. There was a man laying on the ground in front of the SUV. A motorcycle was on its side not 15 feet away. The man still had his helmet on and he was laying face up on the ground, arms and legs spread out. There were no emergency vehicles around, so it had just happened. I couldn’t tell how bad off he was, or if he was even still alive and I can’t recall if there were people trying to talk to him, or if they were just standing around him. And just like that, traffic picked up speed and I had to move along.

But it sat hard with me. I checked online this evening and didn’t see any mention of the incident so I pray the man was fine and the accident happened at a slow speed. I thought of him often throughout the day, thinking how in the span of just seconds his life changed.

It’s moments like that that remind you that life is only lived once and it is fleeting.

I’ve spent a large part of the past few weeks feeling anxious or worried. I have four more weeks of work and I find myself freaking out about our future. Are we doing the right thing? Have we made a huge mistake? At the same time, during those past few weeks, I have also been constantly reminded of God’s promises to never forsake us, that He did not give us a spirit of timidity, and that trusting Him often means letting go of what is comfortable and safe.

And I’m doing that by capturing those anxious thoughts and saying ‘thank you’ instead. We are being given an incredible opportunity to challenge the status quo, to take a risk and step out in faith that God will follow through on a plan He set in motion, and we are being pushed far past our comfort zone. After all, God values our holiness far greater than our comfort.

So tonight, please join me in praying for the man on the road- that he is safe and uninjured, and that God would use that experience for His glory. And then take a look at your own life- are you scared, worried, frustrated, or angry.?Are you overwhelmed  by your circumstances? Take a moment to pause, look around you. See your home. Look at your family. Remember your God. And say, “Thank you.”