Megan Blair

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April 25, 2006

Guest Blogger: Dave Blair, AKA "Dad"

This is the first time, and quite possibly the last as well, that I have someone other than myself posting on my blog. I asked my Dad to write about something that I had been alternating between wanting and not wanting to blog about. But even when I wanted to, I couldn't. So I'll quit writing now and let my Dad tell the story.

A Blessing by Accident

Megan asked that I share this story. This is what I remember or at least think I remember. Megan, Pat and Sue can share their side of the story and/or fill in the blanks.

It was a dark and stormy night on November 7, 2005... well at least it was dark. I had finished working and was headed home to have dinner with Sue and Megan. The next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital emergency room. The response to my "What happened?" question was, "You were in an accident. Lie still."

How did it happen? I do not remember either the accident or being in the ambulance. I would like to remember the ride in the ambulance. That might have been interesting. I am told that I was hit on the driver's door by a Ford Expedition. Having spent many years driving in every major city from New York to Los Angeles and never being close to an accident, being in an accident in Omaha was hard to understand. I think the fact that I do not remember the accident or anything prior to waking up in the emergency room is God taking care of the details as he so often does.

There is a Good Samaritan story here. While I have no memory of it happening, a man stopped at the accident. I must have been able to give him Sue's name and phone number, because he called her. He told her that he was with me, that I had been in an accident, and that he and I had prayed together. Wow! The prayers started early on, and Sue did not have to learn of the accident from a police officer or doctor. A day or two later, while I was still in the hospital, this Good Samaritan called our house and left a message asking how I was doing. After I was home from the hospital, I did get to call him back and thank him for what he had done.

The doctor's reports say, "The nature of the injuries is inconsistent with the patient surviving," and, "It was a really remarkable accident. He suffered injuries that oftentimes kill people..." I had a broken collar bone, a broken shoulder blade, ten broken ribs (five in multiple places), a punctured lung, and a lacerated spleen. The orthopedic said that he has never seen ribs broken the way mine were broken.

I do remember a lot of pain and being in and out of consciousness. Sue, Megan and Pat were there, but for the first few days, I am not really sure when. I am told that I introduced my co-workers to Pat five or six times. It is great to meet so many new people. I do have a very clear memory of waking up at some point that first night and saying, "OK God, you are in control; let's go where you want to go. I am OK with whatever you have planned." I recall thinking later, "God, I know you didn�t need me to tell you that you are in control. You know that." I can honestly say that I experienced the peace that passes all understanding. I have never experienced anything like it before. I can only attribute this to the prayers being offered by so many people: family, friends, our life group, the worship team at church, and friends of friends. If you were one of those praying for me and our family, thank you. It seems so little to say, but it means so much. Prayers of thanksgiving are definitely in order.

The next morning, I thought of the passage in Matthew about the Lord coming like a thief in the night. Matthew 24, 42-44 says, Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. NIV

What if I had died in an accident that I don�t even remember? Funny as it sounds, that is what I thought. Was I ready? I don�t know. I would like to think so. I have always been aware of how quickly life can change or end, but I am paying more attention now. I shared this message with everyone who came into my room; visitors, doctors, and other medical professionals. I was at Creighton Medical Center, a teaching hospital. Not only did I see multiple groups if interns following doctors, many people stopped by to see the "survivor with all the bruises." Through a bad circumstance, I was able to share the passage in Matthew with multiple people. Given my track record for introducing Pat repeatedly, it seems likely that I shared this story not only with multiple people, but with the same people multiple times.

As strange as it sounds, our family has been blessed by this experience. We have all been blessed by so many prayers, meals, kind words, meals, cards, letters, meals, calls, visits, meals, and all the things that come from caring people. We have been blessed by spending quiet holidays together. I am blessed that Pat and Megan could be home to help. I have been blessed by the opportunity to share this story with others on several occasions and hope to be able to continue to do so.

There are questions that remain unanswered. Why did I survive when so many others do not? Will I be able to play golf again? Obviously, some questions are more important than others. I know that God will provide answers if and when he chooses and I must be patient. I am not good at the patient thing, but am working on it. I hope to be paying attention if He calls.

-Dave Blair

Posted by Megan at 05:56 PM | Comments (2)

April 06, 2006

Keep Reading... It Gets Better!

I'm beginning to see a pattern in my walk with God. We get closer; he convicts me; I feel unworthy; I move away. I've always identified well with Paul's description of his struggle with sin:

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
-Romans 7:14-20

The back and forth repitition and juxtaposition of "don't do" and "do do" (yes, I said "do do") is a powerful expression of Paul's level of exasperation with the continuous tug-of-war between his sinful human nature and his yearning to be godly. If you didn't make it through all of the dos and don'ts (and do dos), Paul takes a breath and rephrases in the next verses:

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
-Romans 7:21-24

But I often find myself identifying with this passage so much that I wollow in it and forget that there is a resolution! Who can rescue us?

Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
-Romans 7:25

And that's where the chapter ends. But how is being a "slave to the law of sin" a positive? Keep reading -- it gets better!

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
-Romans 8: 1-4

To tie it all together, we're human. Thus, we're slaves to sin. We'll never be perfect. Not you, not me, not any man or woman on this earth. But, God sacrificed his perfect son as an offering to compensate for our sin. The theology of this can be confusing, but if you want a clearer picture, rent "The Chronicals of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe." And I'm not getting paid for that endorsement.

Posted by Megan at 09:59 PM | Comments (3)