What if...

The other day my husband received a phone call from our son, Matt, who lives and works in the Indy area.  Matt shared the details about what had happened to him earlier that day.  I think it is definitely worth repeating.

Matt decided to stop at a particular job site that he had not planned on checking that day.  Upon arriving, he noticed the pest control guy was there doing his job. 

Matt went through the building and when he came out he noticed the pest control guy was on the ground.  Upon closer inspection, he found the man was lying - face down - on the ground in the sun beside to his truck. Matt knew this couldn’t be good.  After checking out the situation, Matt realized the man was in grave trouble and called the EMS for help.  The EMS arrived and took charge.   As far as Matt knows, the man is doing okay now. 

It was a good ending to a scary story.  Then the ‘what ifs’ started coming to mind. 

…what if Matt had not gone to that job site that day?

…what if Matt had not been there at that very hour?

…what if Matt had arrived later or stayed inside longer?

…what if Matt hadn’t called the EMS?

…what if the EMS hadn’t arrived when they did?

…what if?

I can’t begin to comprehend all of the ‘what ifs’ of my life but I believe God has placed each of us here for a purpose.  Each of us are given a certain number of days, hours, minutes, seconds.  We can choose to live out our days bringing honor to God.  We can choose to live our hours by serving others.  We can choose to live out our minutes by making our world a better place.   We can choose to live out our seconds by loving others.  

We can’t beat ourselves up by constantly second-guessing --- what if I would have done this or said this or not done this or not said this.  I believe it is important to be open, observant and aware – asking God to lead us every day.  It’s good to look inward but then we have to let go and trust God.  We need to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit and respond to His gentle nudgings because who knows who might need us in their life ‘for such a time as this”?

I know Matt doesn’t want me to brag on him but I am so glad he was at that place, at that time to help someone whose life was in the balance.  I truly believe God placed him there – on that day – at that time – to help that man.  No what ifs.