Everyone has times of a spiritual tug-of-war between the flesh and the Spirit. I wrote a message last night but did not have liberty of the Lord to use it.

Two weeks ago while in the Chattanooga, Tenn., area, I was sitting in a mission house provided by a special pastor friend’s church. This house – a home away from home – is where I have gone several times in the past year since my wife’s homegoing.

On Monday evening as I was reading and doing some writing, I heard a loud noise. The loud noise, which I first thought did not concern me, turned out to be caused by a drinking driver who ran up into the mission house yard and hit my parked Malibu on the passenger side. It jammed the two doors, making it unsafe to use. June, my oldest daughter, was already in bed.

This accident made it necessary for me to return last weekend to get my car after the body repairs were finished.

As the police struggled with the driver and tazed him for resisting arrest, I realized that Romans 8:28 is not as easy to understand as it is to quote. It says “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called (chosen) according to His purpose.”

After returning to get my car, I decided I might stay over until Monday morning and drive home. However, on Sunday evening I felt it was time to leave. I got in late Sunday night.

Monday morning I had two services at Savannah Terrace Assisted Living. As I arrived there, the activities director asked me to go with her to pray with a resident in her room. Mrs. Evelyn Lambert is the grandmother of Mark Stokes. By now many of the local folks know that Mark lost his life seeking and helping two people who appeared to be drowning. Mark gave his life to save others – that’s real Christianity!

Mark’s grandparents, the late Eldon Stokes and Christine Stokes, and the family members need our prayers. I have prayed with Christine as she has shared with me about the tragedy. These are highly respected friends and neighbors of the Hopewell community.

I have been thankful for being sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit in giving me victory over the struggle to remain in Tennessee for a bit more pleasure. I have family and friends in that beautiful area that I have kept up with through the years. I pastured four churches in the area. Four of my children are Tennesseans. We lived there about 20 years.

In closing, let me prayerfully say, “There are no accidents with God.”

What we call “accidents” are simply opportunities that God gives us to show Christian love. In reading Romans Chapters 6-8, I read today in Romans 8:31 “ If God be for us, who can be against us?” V.32. “He that spared not His own son, but delivered Him up for us all. How shall He not with Him also give us all things?” The answer is implied. Paul concludes in chapter eight with the word “nothing (again implied) . . . shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” God needs our availability, not our ability. What a privilege to be a part of God’s family. May we always, as Christians, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. If you have not yet trusted Christ as Savior and Lord, today is the day of salvation. To know Christ is to love Christ. To love Him is to serve Him.