Second Chances

Back in 1986 when I was a junior in High School in San Jose, CA, my friend Rich and I decided to go off campus for lunch one day. From what I can remember, I think we were headed to Burger King (side note: my typical order at Burger King in High School was a double cheeseburger, chicken sandwich, large fries, large drink and a large shake, all of which I ate in several minutes and felt no pain afterwards). We hopped in Rich’s small convertible MG that he had just bought used, no seatbelts. We were making a u-turn right in front of the High School and the last think I remember was seeing one of my friends crossing the street and turning around and making eye contact with me. The next thing I knew, I opened my eyes and was hunched over in my seat staring at the floorboard. There was blood all over my legs and I was sitting on Rich’s glasses that he had been wearing. Rich had made a turn right in front of another car that was going about 60 mph and hit on my side of the car, just to the front of the passenger seat. Thankfully, even though we didn’t have on seatbelts, I was tall enough so that me knees went through the dashboard and kept me from flying out the window (I still have the scars). Rich was a smaller guy so his head hit the windshield. Finally realizing what had happened, I got out of the car and limped over to the curb spouting off a few expletives while Rich was still unconscious in the car surrounded by many of our friends. I remember passing out on the sidewalk while one of my friends held me there with others around. Many had thought I had been hit or thrown from the car since I was out on the sidewalk. Shortly, the ambulance came and I remember my friends asking if I needed help getting in the ambulance. Of course I needed help but I said I didn’t and they let me attempt to walk over to the ambulance myself. The principal, Mr. Huffman, came up to see if I was okay and I passed out right as he got to me. I’m told he caught me and dragged me to the ambulance. Rich apologized the entire ride to the hospital. I was only there for a few hours with some deep cuts but amazingly, no stitches and no broken bones. Rich spent a couple days in there but also, no stitches and no broken bones. I remember how terrified my parents looked, arriving just when they wheeled me out of x-ray and they were standing there with tears in their eyes. I don’t even want to imagine what it was like as a parent to get that phone call.

After a few days I was back in school on crutches and I have to admit, the attention I got was awesome. When I went to see Rich in the hospital, he showed me some pictures of the car his parents had taken. I couldn’t believe what I saw. The car was completely mangled, especially the passenger side where I had been. If you had seen the car and didn’t know what had happened, you would have absolutely thought that any passengers had been killed.

The day I was in the wreck, God chose to give me a second chance at life. But I really have no idea how many second chances God has actually given me, you know? How many times have I screwed up and asked for forgiveness and been given a second, third, forth, infinity-plus-one chance? Plenty of people have “cheated death” and been given a second chance but only God truly has no limits on chances. I turn 40 this month (yippee) and I figure that if I’ve sinned 10 times a day (this would be on a good day) since 1968, that’s about 150,000 times I’ve sinned and I’ve been forgiven for every one of those times. And I often forget that He’s asked us to do the same:

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?". Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times." Matthew 18, 21-22

I think that is one of the coolest things in scripture. God is so merciful in His willingness to forgive us as many times as we ask Him to. Of course that’s no excuse to do whatever we want, we all know that. But what a loving Father He is to continually give us another chance.

Peace,
Monte