Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN (04/13/17)
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TITLE: Point of View | Previous Challenge Entry
By Elaine Hemingway
04/20/17 -
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I was an unseen onlooker sitting uncomfortably in a place of ill repute. Jack Jackson was becoming more inebriated as the evening wore on, and my sympathy was with his long-suffering wife, Janet, his unwilling companion. “I didn’t want to come here in the first place,” she said, her weariness evident in her pallor and slumped shoulders. “Can we go home now? I’ll drive but we’ll have to go now.”
“OK, but just one more. No harm if you’re driving.” Irritation at being badgered showed in the smirk he directed at her impatient frown.
It was two more before he agreed to be guided out to the car’s passenger seat, while his wife climbed in the driver’s side.
I listened to his grumbling from my invisible vantage point. “I could drive,” he mumbled. “I’ve only had beer, not even the strongest, anyway, so why are you so obstinate?”
“Just shush, and buckle up,” was Janet’s reply as she clicked the ignition.
***
Valeran, my colleague, was a short distance away, watching a young man tenderly help his pregnant wife into their car. Melanie’s labour pains were progressing well, and the hospital had been contacted. All was in readiness for their arrival and as he put her suitcase onto the backseat he commented with a grin, “It’ll be the baby seat going in here soon.”
There was not much traffic on the country road from their village, with the hospital only three miles away. “Are you comfortable, darling?” were Rob’s last words before steering around a corner.
***
“Why are you taking this road?” Jack demanded. “It’s the long way round.”
“I know, but it’s safer,” Janet replied patiently. “Less likely to have police checks, and I also had a couple of glasses wine you know.”
“No, what the heck. It’ll take longer. Go the normal way.” Belligerently he grabbed the steering wheel.
“Wait, let me get round the bend first.”
Four lives, no, five, affected for eternity!
***
I was there as an assistant fighting the forces of darkness who had intended a worse outcome to the episode. Valeran was the guardian of his charge and had some years of mentoring ahead of him. Sometimes he may appear as a seasonal friend, and at others, he will be the watcher and protector. Melanie doesn’t know it yet but she will be strengthened through those years and guided by the Holy Spirit as she learns to help others in the throes of tragedy.
Rob will only know his son from the portals of heaven, while another man will be given the responsibility of his upbringing. He will instil Christian values into the lives of Melanie and their family, but that lies far ahead. First, the trauma of the present must be dealt with.
Jack will never drink again, while Janet will be in a wheelchair for the rest of her days on earth.
Tragedy, as seen from the perspective of a watching angel, though unexpected from the viewpoint of a victim, is often about the stubbornness and willfulness of humankind. I have long wondered why people do not learn from history or even personal experience. So often they go blindly into situations and circumstances inviting danger which could have been avoided.
Proverbs 16:9 “In their hearts humans plan their course but the Lord establishes their steps.” And verse 18, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”
Some have entertained angels without realising it, and while they may have thought their situations had happened by chance, very little can be classed as accidental. Even tragedies, which on the surface are unsurmountable disasters, can bring good in some way because in ALL things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28.
I think of Balaam wondering why his donkey crushed his foot against a wall. (Numbers 22.) Did Job consider the tragedies that confronted him were accidents? Was it accidental that the prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the young Daniel were taken captive and consigned to countries far from their homeland?
I, Valeran, and others of our ilk, angels of the Most High, will continue in our assignments, always wondering why …
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Well done,
Blessings~