Does Devastation Have the Final Word?

 It was every parent's worst nightmare!

It shocked our small town.

A nine-year old boy named Patrick - who played in the same small-town hockey league as my brother....had been hit by a drunk driver.

We heard he'd been playing ball hockey with friends when it happened.

But then a drunk driver hit him and crushed his legs.

They had to be surgically removed from the knee down.

Can you imagine receiving this news?

About your child? Your sibling? Your friend? Your neighbor? Your team-mate?

Devastation comes at us in all forms. Devastation ripples out and spreads shock and pain to the connected communities of people and families all the time.

And stuns us back into the realization that life is fragile and susceptible to sudden and devastating change.

In the blink of an eye.

Reminders like the accident that stole this young boy's legs are enough to make us stay in bed with the covers over our heads.

Who wants to face tomorrow if tomorrow brings with it the chance of pain and loss?

Not me.

But....

That nine-year old boy's life DID NOT END the day his legs were crushed and severed.

His story was NOT done.

Yesterday I was back in that small town and I saw a plaque beside the "Welcome to Fergus " sign.

The plaque proudly proclaimed that this little place was the home of Patrick Anderson - 3 time Paralympic champion and 4 time medalist.

What??!!

I remember little Patick....his devastating and the grief that flooded our community.

But Patrick did NOT stay down.

He healed, he grew more tenacious, a year after his accident he began playing wheelchair basketball and today he is considered to be the BEST wheelchair basketball player in the world.

Oh...and he's married, has 3 kids, is a musician and public speaker.

Which is a good reminder that devastation does NOT have the final word on our lives.

I'm not sure if Patrick is Christian, but I am sure that God is a God of healing and redirection who gives us the confidence to KNOW that when we look to and wait on God, we will ALWAYS rise again!

So....if you are facing devastation today, keep waiting on tomorrow. God can redeem even this.

("But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me." Micah 7: 7&8)

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bv

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