Everyday that we live, God gives us a gift. Most of the time we’re just so busy that we aren’t paying attention to this beautiful gift. No it’s not money, a house, a car, or anything of that nature. It’s something much more valuable than any material item we could ever acquire or purchase.

God’s gift to us is our life. We live as if we’ll always be here and as if we’ll never die. Most of us don’t want to think about death, but we don’t really begin to live until we are forced to think about our own mortality. We’re here for a short while, and then we’re gone. End of story. We don’t get any do-overs or next chances with it. Life is so precious, and I was enlightened to that fact just recently. So I want to share my story with you.

I headed out to work as I always do each and every morning. Nothing new. Just the same routine, but a different day. I noticed a fire truck in front of me, but I didn’t think much about it. As I quickly approached the interstate, I was brought to a complete halt. The road was blocked, and in front of me was an accident. There were several vehicles involved. One had run off the road and down an embankment. This wasn’t what I wanted to see at this time of the day. My first thought was that I was going to be late for work, and then that’s where it hit me. God began to show me something much deeper here. Much deeper than my own schedule, plan, and purposes for what I thought my day was going to look like.

First, I began to thank God for His protection. You must understand something. I had gotten delayed on a few things that morning which put me leaving a few minutes later than normal. My first reaction before leaving for work was to get all worked up over how my morning wasn’t going exactly as I had planned, but then I decided it just wasn’t worth it. I wasn’t going to get all stressed out over a few hiccups in my schedule. I was going to enjoy the day regardless. You see, I had no clue that God was delaying me for His protection, but after seeing the accident, then I knew that’s what He had done. That very well could have been me in that accident. Who knows what the outcome would have been for me.

Then, I began to wonder about the people involved in the accident. Why didn’t God protect them? He had the ability to protect me, so why didn’t He protect them? Did God’s power go on the blink for a split second to cause this to happen? God, why did You let this happen?

God, why? The age old question that we demand an answer from Him and of which we rarely get an answer. We try to rationalize things out in our mind because we think it would make us feel better if we could just get an answer. If only we knew, then it would help us to deal better with what’s at hand. If only? God, why? It’s just a senseless circle of emotion-filled, unanswered questions.

I’ll never know the answer as to why God spared me from this accident and why the other people weren’t, but it has caused me to realize how precious my life is. Yes, I’ll go to Heaven when it’s my time, but believe me, I want to live and love every moment that He blesses me with until He says my journey has been completed. I love my final destination, but just let me say that I’m not ready for the next bus load out. I know that He still has work for me to do to share His hope with other hurting people, and when my mission is complete, then I’ll graduate up to the place I’ve been dreaming of my whole life.

Life. Experience and feel it coursing though your veins because it’s quickly fading away before your very eyes. Don’t take another day or even another moment for granted. Live everyday with purpose. Live on mission for God. Love others fiercely and passionately. Love God with every fiber of your being because you just never know when He’ll say game over. Live with eternity in mind.