I frequently highlight the small blessings that occur in my life on this blog. I don’t just do it on or for this blog. I practice this in my daily life.
Many years ago, I read in the Psalms that God daily loads us with benefits. At the time, all I could see were problems. If the Bible is true, and I believe that it is, I must be wrong. So, I made it a point to start looking more closely.
My latest example occurred this evening. My son, freshly back from CA, called to tell me that Wild Bill’s (our old F150) right rear tire blew out.
You might ask, “What is so great about that?”
I agree. Now I have to change a tire before I get back to doing my taxes! I don’t have time for this. And I wasn’t really looking forward to getting dirty…etc., etc., etc.
That is where most people stop. However, I happen to REALLY believe that the God of the Bible is involved in the details of my life. And, that same Bible tells me that He is a good God. So when something like this happens, instead of instinctively complaining, I began considering the circumstances and looking for those benefits that He says he loads me down with.
- The tire blew out three tenths of a mile from our apartment.
- My son was coming home from school. The road that he was driving on has a 25 MPH speed limit.
If that were the whole story, there is plenty to be thankful for. However, as I was driving to the storage facility to get a decent jack (the one that came with the truck won’t lift it high enough off of the ground to get the job done), I remembered telling my wife last Thursday night that I was going to drive Wild Bill to work so I could get a part for it from a nearby junkyard.
I didn’t go through with that plan. I don’t remember why. In fact, no one drove the truck from Thursday night until Tuesday morning.
I am glad that I didn’t go through with that plan. Work is 28 freeway miles away from our apartment.
What would it have been like to have the tire blow out in THAT truck on the freeway at 70+ MPH at 6:20 in the morning while it is still dark?
How would I have gotten to work? What time would I have gotten to work? How much would it have disrupted my wife and daughter’s life?
Worse yet, what if my wife had been driving the truck?
All things considered, I count myself blessed with where, when and how the tire on my truck blew out.
