An Altar Of Praise

It happened on Friday.

Sleep had overtaken him in the middle of the day... the driver of the white sedan.

Mercifully, we were all on the inside when we heard it. Screech, thump, then... CRASH! Three pairs of feet practically flew down the steps and over the blazing hot concrete walkway... slippers forgotten in our mad rush.

The vehicle had veered across from the opposite side of the road (screech!), rode over the edge of the drain (thump!) and lunged forward through shrubs to take on the concrete wall that surrounds our yard (crash!). The wall won.

Unhurt, but more than a little shaken up, he found his way out and I ventured to ask, "Are you OK?" He nodded.

It was then that it hit me. I had stood at that very spot too many times to count with friends who were waiting for a ride. My disabled friend had pulled her car over right there to talk with me many times. That bit of pavement is the place where conversations begun on the inside generally end as friends who had parked there prepared to leave, and - on this side of the eternal world - we will never know how many times our lives were spared by Divine intervention while standing in that very place.

Today, I pause to register my gratitude to Jehovah God for lives spared... the driver's, ours, and the life of every other person who has ever lingered in that place. I praise Him for His unparalelled goodness to undeserving mortals and stand in awe... humbled by His grace.

This post marks my feeble attempt at building an altar of praise to the One who holds all our lives in His hands. His mercies truly are new every morning.

"It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22-23)

Have you seen His hand (even in retrospect) turn aside circumstances in order to spare you and yours? I am inviting you to join me in building an altar for passers-by in this generation and generations to come. Go ahead, register your gratitude... and add a stone to the altar. :)