Sitting in my chair Saturday evening—trying to study but too tired to concentrate. Colleen is finishing some household chores in the bedroom. An unusual sound rattles the cobwebs in my mind and awakens my slumbering voyage. “What is that?”, I wonder. I check on Colleen. She’s okay and verifies that I did not imagine the sound. Walking out the back door, I hear the sound of barking dogs up the street. They are quite excited and making an intense racket. Several minutes later, there is a knock at the door. Out of the corner of my eye I can see the flashing lights of emergency vehicles as a neighbor informs me that both of the brick mail boxes in front of our house are gone, the victims of a collision with a pickup that is now sitting helplessly at the bottom of a rather deep ditch across the street. The driver is fine. The truck is not. Our mail box has been violently disassembled and scattered in little pieces over a large area. But, that’s okay. People are more important than things.
A little distraction followed by unexpected collision. It is a principle that applies to all walks of life. Sometimes it is a one of those relatively harmless “Why did I do that?” moments. Other times, the results are quite serious—even tragic.
In this, there is a spiritual lesson. Distraction is dangerous. Distraction is one of Satan’s favorite weapons, used often in tempting us to do evil. But, we must not be “ignorant of his schemes” (2 Cor. 2:11). Instead, we must focus on Christ and set our minds on things above (Col. 3:1-2). Satan’s distractions are “passing away…but the one who does the will of God lives forever” (1 Jn. 2:17).
Collisions are not always the result of distraction. Every life eventually encounters collisions that can only be explained as a matter of time and chance. Doing the will of God does not inoculate us from life’s heartaches. While I am a firm believer in what some have called “the preventative grace of God”—that is, the watch, care, and protection of the Lord which is given in answer to prayer and in keeping with the Father’s will—there is also evidence to suggest that there are benefits associated with adversity. James said, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (Jas. 1:2-4). In such circumstances, we might as well get something out of the ordeal rather than wasting an opportunity for spiritual growth and development. In summary, then, be neither distracted nor discouraged by life’s collisions.