In an instant

Things change. People change. The world keeps marching on. Do you ever feel like you're the only one left behind? In an instant things are changed. 

Example: I read the blog of a little girl named Kate. Kate's right hand started twitching last week so her mom took her to the doctor. Fast forward to today, she's had brain surgery. She has a cancerous tumor on her brain stem. Last week her biggest worry was which Barbie to play with and now she's fighting for her life. Sigh. In an instant her life and that of everyone who loves her was changed.

#2 I was on my way to school tonight and passed by a nasty wreck. One moment you're on your way home from work and the next you wake up in an ambulance. (I hope no one in the accident had Allstate Insurance.) Auto accidents do not end at the scene. Someone's life is forever altered. Even if they heal just fine, they have fear. It takes some time to get comfortable being in the car again. They have to deal with the stress of dealing with an insurance company. Perhaps they even have to sue the insurance company. Maybe that accident makes things clear to them. Who they are supposed to marry becomes crystal clear. Their fingers automatically dial the people that they love the most. In an instant their life is changed, but maybe it is for the better. Maybe now they appreciate how quickly things can be taken from them. 

#3 I sit in a classroom with the thickest doors available that remain locked during class. The glass beside the door is bullet-proof. The windows have a special lever to allow students to easily evacuate. Why? Because in an instant a school shooter could change all of our lives. One second Virginia Tech students were sitting in their French class. The next they were fighting with a shooter for their lives. (Most of them lost that fight.)

#4 A smaller change. One day you have a steady job. The next day you're on the phone for 2 hours with the unemployment department. All of the sudden your plans for the future are put on hold. Everything gets harder and nothing seems to make sense anymore. You look at your life and see that you've become jaded into thinking that what you do makes you who you are. You feel so lost and unimportant. 

There are a lot of instants that change our lives. Some are small and some are large. Everyday that we're here we should be thankful. I firmly believe that no matter what is going on, cancer, shooting, accidents or loss of jobs, God is here. He hears me and he hears you. In an instant everything that we know could change. Maybe it would be a change for the better or maybe it would be a change for the worse, but either way, God's there and He's in control. And if we learn from other people's instants maybe we can be more prepared for our own.