18 Yards Airborn!

How do you survive when you are thrown up in the air?

This is something I have been thinking about since several days ago. What got me thinking about this subject was really quite interesting. I volunteer on the local ambulance, and we were dispatched for an accident. We arrived to find the fire company already there, and fire fighters out in the field beside the road. Also in the field was a very very nice looking corvette. The gentleman had swerved to miss several deer that ran in front of him. The only indication of trauma to the car was that the air bags were deployed and there was some minimal damage to the front bumper. If it had not been for those things, you would not have known anything had happened. And the man in it? He was fine, or so he said. He complained of some neck pain, but did not want to go to the hospital. We did all our paperwork, and continued down the road to turn around and head back to station. As we did so, I only then could see a little more clearly how the man had come to be so far into the field with so little visible damage to his car. He flew there! :)

Yes, literally! As in, flew through the air! He was in the air for just less than 20 yards before his car landed, and yes, I think he may have been going faster than the speed limit! Coming towards the vehicle, the way we drove in to the scene, we could not see exactly where he went off the road. I thought it seemed strange as we looked at the vehicle that there were not many visible tracks in the field, and as we left I could see better why there were none. His car went off a small hill off the edge of the road and you could only see tracks again a few feet before the car stopped in the field, where he had actually landed.

All that, to say this... How do you end up when life throws you up in the air? Granted, the man probably would not have flown so far if he had not been going so fast, but I guess there are times in life when we all get going at a higher speed than we should! What does it take for us to slow down, and enjoy right now, instead of racing so fast toward tomorrow that we miss the meaning of today?

Sometimes we do get going that fast, and we get thrown up in the air, but maybe more importantly, is how do we come down? How do we land again? Do we land on our feet, and slow down, or do we crash and burn? This particular gentleman seemed to survive quite well. I am sure he was quite sore for several days, but he did not have any major complaints. When we land, are we able to find some grace for ourselves, and then continue as we should (at a slower pace probably), or are we so damaged from the landing that we need to stop for some time to patch ourselves back together again? Either way, God can use the time to get our attention, and to point out to us the things we need to change, to work on, to do better! He is the one who will help us find the grace to get up on our feet and follow Him again.

Remember to keep your eyes on Him! (It's usually when we forget to watch Him that we end up getting thrown...)

~Amanda