When God Speaks (3)

BONUS TIME!
I should be dead! That was my thought (and that's still my thought) as I laid on the ground Memorial Day weekend, 2000. I had just been up in a tree in our backyard, about 20' up, I guess, with my trusty hammer tearing down an aging treehouse. Its condition was questionable enough that I had attempted to keep everyone out of it, and I finally found the time that holiday weekend to climb up and tear it down, so no one would get hurt. I was kneeling on the treehouse floor, I reached and knocked loose an outer board, and the entire structure collapsed. I turned a 1/2 somersault on the way down and landed on my neck.
I found that I could move, and other than having the wind knocked out of me and being unable to breathe right, I seemed OK. I stumbled into the house and let Dana know I had fallen, still not breathing right. She called the ambulance, and they arrived quickly and strapped me to the backboard and hauled me to the ER. After the X-rays, they put a neck brace on me and sent me home with some Celebrex. When I went to see the neurosurgeon that week, he said I had a compression fracture of a Thoracic vertebra and several chipped ones in my neck. He also said there wasn't anything they could do about it until it degenerates further.
I took all this as a gift from God; that every subsequent minute of life was BONUS TIME, to which I was not entitled, but was still being given. So, I determined to go on with my life in a manner that will be a blessing to others and to not hide or deny my leading by the steady hand of the Holy Spirit. Our youngest daughter graduated from her high school and youth group that same week, so we went ahead and made the switch of church congregations we had been postponing. We found a grace-filled group of Christians who took us in and accepted us with our faults and baggage and whose worldview was much closer to our own. I don't think I ever did adequately explain to our dear friends at the previous congregation all the factors that went into our move. Some thought I was angry, some thought I was jealous of not being selected as an elder, and many were just puzzled. After all, we had been members there for 13 years and had raised our kids there! After all, my Dad was still a member there, so we were splitting up the family!
Some asked if we found anything that was really different there. My answer has been that Yes, we felt a breath of fresh air within Glenwood. For one thing, the predominant perspective of the members is that, if someone comes in and claims to be a follower of Christ, then they are accepted as such, until and unless they prove otherwise by their actions. At the previous congregation, no one from the outside was accepted as a fellow Christ-follower unless their history and actions led the members to believe their claim. Neither of these two views were unanimous, but my perception was that they were predominant.
So, that is why I no longer care what others think about me, as long as I'm being led by the Spirit. I refuse to be judged by anyone, even myself. I AM the Dead Man Walking! I AM crucified with Christ. I AM dead to the old way of life. I AM a new creation. I AM redeemed!
Peace to all!