"Lord, fulfill your plans for my life."
- Psalm 138:
I saved one of my favorite Psalms for a special day. A birthday, of sorts for me...
14 years ago today I survived being shot.
I won't go into the full story of what happened now, but basically I was with 2 of my college buddies when we got robbed and held up. One held a gun to my head, and although they had already gotten our money, I guess the guy needed to prove a point. So he fired. Twice.
One shot graced the top of my head. To say that it is by the Grace of God that I'm still alive is a terrible understatement.
All 3 of us we're blessed to be all right. But never the same.
I wish I could say that immediately after the incident, I became a changed man. That I stoped swearing, conquered my addictions and started volunteering all my time helping the needy. But I didn't. I continued to live a pretty self-centered existence for the most part for a while. Guess I really am hard-headed. :)
But the incident definitely put my life on a different track. God had definitely gotten my attention. I couldn't get away from the fact that God must have some reason for me still being alive. I started feeling like he must have some plan for me. It became my job to figure out what that was.
14 years later I'm still working on figuring that part out. But it's amazing how richly he has blessed me since that event. Almost immediately after, I started dating the amazing girl that would eventually become my wife. Today there are 2 beautiful children that call me Daddy. I have been blessed with more good health, creative jobs, brilliant friends and wonderful opportunities and memories than I ever deserved.
But the greatest gift has to be that from that moment, I started really realizing that God loved me and had a plan for my life. In coming to that realization, it was then that I really trying to have a relationship with Him. To be on his team rather than trying to call my own plays. I'm still very much a work in progress in that department...but I'm trying.
So as I reflect on this special day and read Psalm 138, I give thanks for the gift of life, and pray for the Lord to continue fufiling his plans for me. What could be better?
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3 comments:
If this had happened to me, I'd have a t-shirt -- no, make that a case of t-shirts, enough that I could wear one every day -- that said something like "I've stared down the barrel of a gun and lived to tell the tale."
...or "You think you scare me? I've taken a bullet to the head M-F; what have you ever done?"
...or maybe it would just say "I took a bullet to my head but all I got was this lousy t-shirt."
Regardless, there would be shirts and much bragging going on. Dang, I'm just excited I can tell my other buddies that I'm friends with a guy like you.
--Phil
"I took a bullet to my head and all I got was this lousy T-shirt." I like that...
lance
I'd wear it.
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