I imagine everyone considers the “what if” questions occasionally.
For me, it might be, “If I hadn’t joined the Air Force, would I have met my husband in another way?”
Every so often, we ask ourselves these questions because of circumstances that occur in life. What if I had been on that plane, train, or boat instead of running late? We often read about people that were supposed to be somewhere, a tragedy occurred, and, thankfully, they missed it. It works both ways; sometimes, we wonder if we missed a great opportunity if we went on that interview or made that investment.
My friend’s daughter was thinking “what if” the other day while driving to her job.
She was following a wrecker truck towing a car. She didn’t particularly think it looked unstable, but as she was following it up a short hill, she was thinking, “What if the car came loose? What would I do?”
She looked left and right and decided if the oncoming lane to her left was clear, she might head there. Otherwise, she would try to hit the car straight on since that would be better than being hit at an angle, or by a car coming at her in the other lane.
You guessed it, the car came loose and started toward her. She saw no cars in the oncoming lane, so she swerved in and out of the lane and into a parking lot on the far side of the road. The car behind her had enough time to swerve into a driveway.
No one was following them. Both drivers watched as the tow truck driver turned around to retrieve the car, which landed safely at the bottom of the incline, with no one harmed.
Some would call it fate, some good karma, but she called it God’s provision. Isn’t that the best way to see our Father’s hand in our lives? She could have dramatized the entire incident about how she was almost killed, but instead, she saw it as God’s hand protecting her.
She didn’t talk to the tow truck driver, but of course, he might have seen the scenario as a bad event rather than a good one. Certainly, it was not a good day for him because he had to re-hook the car, and this time, not in a particularly safe location, but I am at least hopeful that he also knew God was watching over him, as well, when He spared harm to him and both drivers following him.
I worked for a while at the emergency clinic at a veterans hospital, in Seattle. Many veterans were living in and around Seattle due to the area’s numerous military bases. In this particular area of the hospital, we interacted mostly with the indigent and homeless veterans that lived downtown.
One day after everyone went home, I was closing the department. As usual, I shut the lights off, leaving just enough daylight through the windows for me to see my way out to the main hospital. As I was picking up my satchel to leave, a man came into the department and approached me at the desk. He had an edgy look to him that made me immediately wary.
The man, with his hand in his pocket and motioning as if he had a gun, told me to turn the TV on. He could easily have done that himself, so I started to pray because to do as he requested, I had to walk from behind the counter and pass in the limited space between him and the counter. Doing this would block my exit to the main hospital, and then, I had to turn into a blind cornered waiting room where the TV was.
I worked in hospitals long enough that I had become adept with staying calm and helping calm nervous or agitated patients. This man wasn’t agitated; he was almost unnervingly calm. I can still picture his dark jacket with his hand in his pocket, gesturing for me to move.
I continued to pray for God’s intervention and instruction as I decided to leave the counter’s false safety and do as the man requested. I was unsure if he had a gun, but to appease whatever was going on in his mind, he needed to have the TV on, and I needed to be the one to turn it on.
As each decision was made, a lot of “what ifs” crossed my mind.
Thankfully, I left the building safely that day. It seemed to be enough that the patient had the TV on, and I left him standing there in the ER clinic in the dark. I still remember the incident because I was not sure which way it might turn out for me, but I knew God was in the room watching over me.
Every day, we see sickness, accidents, death, and yet, we also see births, milestones surpassed, and recoveries. Strange and sometimes awful events happen in life, but if we see God’s hand in our lives, we also see miracles and blessings.
We often think life should be perfect on earth, and it would have been if sin did not deceive us so easily. Knowing that God holds the world, including my life, in His hand has always been comforting to me.
In the Bible, I see where people have “hardened their hearts” toward God. I pray those hardened hearts will consider, “What if God really is who He says He is? What harm would befall us to have our hearts become soft enough to get to know God and to see His care for us? What if we really believed?”
ED. NOTE: Amy Patsch writes from Ocean City.
