Have you ever wondered why God lets certain things happen, when you know He could have
prevented them? Sometimes that has crossed my mind and then I heard the song "In Better
Hands" by Natalie Grant, no sometimes we don't know why certain things happen, but we know
God will use them for good in our lives! I found the music vid for the song, if you would like,
you should watch it, it's really good!
http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=84406f7b7686d9c10dae I have been thinking a lot about this subject because, four months ago my cousin and best
friend was in a horrible car accident, the reason the accident happened was not good and I was
so upset when it looked like he might die, because I knew in my heart of hearts, he wasn't ready
to go. For you to fully understand the impact of this story I have to go back a few years and
kind of set the scene for you guys. He and I are two years apart in age, so when he was a
freshman and I was a junior we began attending high school together, at first we clashed like no
other, but over the course of the next year we became really close and good friends. We had a
lot in common and I liked spending time with him, it is safe to say by my senior year he was one
of my very best guy friends. Over the summer after I graduated, we talked on the phone a lot,
and he had big plans of becoming a youth pastor and going to ORU after he graduated in two
years. But, somewhere along the way he started hanging out with the wrong crowd and he just
changed. It was small steps of doing the wrong things, and little by little we began to drift
apart. It hurt, it felt like when someone is starving to death, only it was our friendship slowly
starving and wasting away. It all came down to one night on the phone and us getting into the
biggest argument we had ever had since we had become friends and we decided not to talk
anymore, or actually he told me he hated me and didn't want to talk to me ever again. So, for a
month, we didn't talk at all. Then, on the night of the wreck we happened to both be at the
same church function and he apologized to me, and we decided we were going to try and work
out the problems between us. And I begged him to please come back to what he knew was
right, and not get so far away that he forgot how to come back. He looked at me and with tears
in his eyes told me, "I'm going to make it right, but not today, later. Later when I'm done having
fun." He hugged me and he left with his friends and exactly four hours later we received the call
that they had been in the accident and that he might not make it through his skull cap surgery. I
don't think I have ever prayed so hard in my whole entire life, it was really tough. He was in a
coma for a month, we went up twice a week so I could go see him, I will never forget the day
when he was in a coma and grabbed my hand and wouldn't let go, it made me cry so hard. It
was like he knew I was there and like he didn't want me to leave and I promised him, right there
while he was still in a coma, that no matter what happened, I would always be there for him.
When he finally woke up from the coma, they took him to a rehab facility that was 16 hours
away, so I didn't get to see him all summer, which was really hard on me, I hadn't gone more
than two days without talking to him with the exception of when we were fighting. Once he had
been in rehab for a month I got to call him, and then got to start emailing him, which made it a
little easier. Then, last night, he finally got to come home! He still isn't all the way back to
normal and they warned us that he doesn't remember a lot of things, so don't get upset if he
didn't remember our names, so I started crying when they were getting him out of the truck and
he saw me and started shouting my name! He gave me a hug and wouldn't let go, it was so
awesome! The most awesome thing of all is the change in him though, he made them push his
wheelchair up to the altar so he could pray, I have never seen him pray out loud and he did last
night, it was amazing! And he keeps telling everyone he is going to walk again, he believes that
God is going to heal him, which is totally awesome and amazing to me, he hasn't talked like this
since last summer! God has done such a work in his life and while at the time I couldn't see
God's hand in this tragedy, now I can see He was there every single step of the way and He will
continue to be there until his full recovery! Because, we are all truly in better hands now! May
we never forget that God only breaks us to make us stronger and more like Him.
Living to live for Jesus Christ,
~Chick~[sm=chick.gif]