As I ’emerge’ from my past and into the lushness of what looks like a new life I have to take just a moment and look back, not for me but for you.
God say’s if you put your hand to the plow you can’t look back.
I am always careful now and proceed cautiously when I write a thing that explains the past. I have found when I use God’s words to explain it, it goes way better than if I try to explain it all on my own.
Psalm 55:18
“He rescues me unharmed from the battle waged against me,
even though many oppose me.”
Indeed he did.
I like history, do you like history? How about military history, yeah, me too! Check this link out if you get a chance.
://alumni.ua.edu/blog/magazine_stories/for-one-english-officer/
A prisoner exchange may have happened for any number of reasons.
I get my guy back and you get your guy back, unharmed!
Like in the game of chess or checkers, if you are able to get a piece across the board safely in chess you can take a piece back or in checkers you can KING ME!
With God, he had his son put up the ransom for us, all of us, any one of us who wishes to know God can come to him freely now because the price has been paid for our freedom.
My experience is such in life that I should at least have a broken nose or arm or leg. I bruised my spleen once in seventh grade, it hurt, but it healed. The few knicks I do have were all my fault and could have been totally avoided.
Looking back though it is a miracle that none of those things happened to me. Not to mention battling The Black Dragon Suicide for most of my life, I couldn’t even hurt myself when I wanted to.
God has given me a great gift of being able to look back, I have the opportunity to look back and see that if it wasn’t for Him I can honestly say that I should not be here or at least I should have come away with some severe bodily injuries.
I am not tempting fate or anything like that I am just being Thankful to God because I know people who have not made it thus far unscathed.
Like the high school friend a buddy and me came upon. He had a car accident with another car and he was stuck in the front seat of the car, the car was out in a field.
I mean, half of the car was out in the field, the front half, with him stuck in it, the car was cut in half during the accident.
His rib cage and sternum was moved over a few inches after his recovery.
There were others I knew that did not make it out of high school or much after high school.
But when you are young, you think yourself invincible. I did.
I always picture a prisoner exchange happening on a bridge, must be from watching all of those old movies.
I see myself walking across now, passing Jesus as he walks the other way, to give himself in exchange for me, it makes me cry every time I envision that.
Unharmed! I am released unharmed!
Even though death had me in a seemingly unbreakable hold.
Psalm 103:4
“Who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with loving kindness and compassion…”
Jesus does.
Although I did not know him and definitely was not following him, God gave him the task to prepare a way back to the Father before time began, for me, and you, through his given blood, ransomed unharmed from a battle I did not even realize was going on and seemingly not participating in.
I have to be grateful, I have to be! How can I not?
The movie with Denzel Washington, Man on Fire, has a line in it, the bad guy uses it when Denzel’s character calls him on the phone.
The bad guy says, “A life for a life.”
I think of that when I think of Jesus.
Jesus said, “Ok”.
Father please forgive me.
In your words, “do not hold the sins of my youth against me though they are great”, or those from just yesterday.
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