blink, blink, blink

I had a crazy experience this week. It’s one of those things where you wouldn’t believe me if I told you, and I have absolutely no evidence that it happened, and in fact I have a hard time believing it myself, but I have to believe what I saw with my own eyes, and by faith I choose to believe that it was an act of divine protection.

I had to go from our South office to our North office, so I got back in my van about 9:30am. Funny thing, my hazard lights were on…???… They certainly weren’t on when I parked at 9am. I’m almost certain I locked my doors like I always do, it wasn’t an electrical problem because the button was actually in the on position. It’s possible I accidently bumped the button as I was pulling my laptop bag out of the car, but I’ve never done that before, and even if I had chances are I would have heard the flashers as I was got out of my vehicle. Anyway, I chocked it up as incidental contact and then began driving out of the parking lot when the next unusual thing happened.

Another car just about 3 or 4 spaces down had it’s flashers on too! I saw both of them blink 3 times as I drove past. There was no one in the car, the sun shade was up, and I didn’t see anybody else in the parking lot so I don’t think someone pushed a key fob button.

I stopped, put the van in reverse, and went back to my parking spot. Then I drove past the car again. I wanted to see if they were still flashing, and I wanted to see if maybe the blinking was somehow caused by the sun reflecting off my van and illuminated the blinkers. Unfortunately the lights were no longer blinking, but, I also did not see the blinking reproduced as I pulled past the car again.

I pulled over, questioning my eyes, wondering what these two amazing coincidences could mean, wondering if they were coincidences. I asked God what it meant, and I felt God telling me to just take a minute to pray. So I did. I sat in the car and prayed. I thanked God for his daily provision, I asked God for his divine protection. I asked God about specific people to see if I needed to check in with anyone. Nothing, I just felt like God was saying take a minute.

I know it sounds crazy, but I think God divinely protected me from some kind of accident. I have no evidence of that, I don’t know what would have happened if I hadn’t stopped, but I have an extreme peace believing it. My spirit feels that it was God’s mercy poured out just for me.

It may be easier for me to believe this than for many because this is not the first time I’ve had this experience. Some of you know that I was on the Texas A&M Bonfire stack just minutes before it collapsed on Nov 18th, 1999, killing 12 students and injuring 26+ more. The shift was far from over, but for some reason I felt like it was time to take a break, something I never did. Moments later I witnessed the collapse of bonfire, up close and personal. I felt like God singled me out, saved me for a bigger purpose, put a calling on my life. I don’t know exactly what that is, but in the mean time I try to live each day like a man with a purpose. (Gal 2:20, Rom 12:1)

With this prior experience, it’s easy to conclude that God would continue to protect me from deadly situations. It’s easy to conclude that God cares for me in extrordinary ways.

But it also makes me wonder how many other times God is trying to get our attention that we rationalize away, that we choose to ignore, or that we just don’t see because we’re too busy to pay attention. And when God calls, what is our response?

Lord, thank you for your divine protection. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your daily provision. Let us not take these things for granted. Instead, let them move us into a place of humility and dedicate our lives to your service, so that others can also experience your love and hear your voice.

Nate