HEED THE WARNING

This is my third reminder from the book of ENCOURAGEMENT!  It’s called Surprise. Oswald Chambers says that Jesus doesn’t come when and where we expect.  He comes in times and places where we least expect him. Be ready for surprise visits.  When we have a relationship with God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful, uncertainty and expectancy.  Let’s face it – life is tentative.  Be ready for the next SURPRISE visit of the Lord in your life.

This past Monday was the running of the 126th Boston Marathon. I was blessed to race in the 100th Boston Marathon in 1996.  The above photo is a vivid reminder about heeding the warning. The year was 1987, and I was at the starting line with 100 other wheelchairs. The race director came out in front of us all with a loud speaker and gave us a strong warning.  The start of the race was a steep downhill with speeds up to 30 miles per hour. It was slightly raining and very foggy and he said, “Roll to the bottom of the hill before you start racing”. Of course, the first row of wheelchairs said, “Let’s get out of here and of course the second row and all back rows followed suit. Within seconds, the photo above tells the tragedy when we don’t HEED THE WARNING. About a dozen  crashed and several were taken to the hospital.  I was behind this group and rolled on through the disaster. The next day, the Boston Globe posted this photo with a caption that said, “WHEELS OF MISFORTUNE”.  The following year, a police car was in front of us and controlled the speed until we reached the bottom of the hill. I was blessed by doing 5 Boston Marathons.

The Bible has many HEED THE WARNING verses such as “Except a man be born again (saved) he will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (John 3:3) or “Be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).  God provides these warnings, not to restrict us but to save us from ourselves.  His purposes are always for our good.

Ukraine – If you are looking for a good way to support the refugees in Ukraine,I suggest you go  to Samaritanspurse.org.  This is a Franklin Graham ministry with feet on the ground.