A Time to Get Going

A Paraphrase of God’s Command to Noah (Genesis 8:15-9:3)

 When God delivered Noah and his family after a tumultuous year-long voyage over troubled waters, he commanded Noah, “Go, I have given you a second chance. Go, be fruitful. Go make a difference in this new world I have given you.”

In 1971, I was given a second chance to make a difference in the world. I was driving down a busy, four-lane city street in a 1955 Pontiac doing about 45 mph. Suddenly I heard a loud snap! At that moment I lost complete control over the direction of the car. The steering wheel freely turned in my hands, but it no longer had any connection to the front axle. I jammed on the brakes, which pulled to the left. By a narrow margin the car missed several parked cars, jumped the curb, and came to rest between a phone booth and a utility pole. Since it was the beginning of Lent, I had been on my way to church. So, I used the phone in the booth (no cell phones back then) to get someone to pick me up.

A few minutes later, I was in church on my knees thanking God for delivering me from what was almost certain disaster. It was then that I remembered that the night before I had driven that same car through a long tunnel. Had the steering failed then, I would not be writing this. Like Noah, I had heard God’s clear voice saying to me, “I have given you a second chance. Go, go make a difference in this world I have given you.”