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It Started with an Egg-cident…

By April 11, 2021December 7th, 2022Devotional

I should have guessed that it was going to be a challenging week-end. It started out on Friday afternoon. Janet and I usually go to Kroger and do our shopping for the week before we have dinner. I know, I know… it sounds really exciting, doesn’t it? Then, we head home and have pizza and salad together. Usually nothing fancy – just a quiet Friday night most weeks…

But this weekend started out with a little bump in the road. As we were loading the car with our groceries, Janet handed me a bag with a dozen eggs… well, I didn’t have a good hold on the bag and I dropped it in the parking lot… Broken eggs all other the place… So I went back in, was ready to purchase another dozen and, much to my surprise, the cashier wouldn’t take my money. He said that accidents happen – Kroger would be pleased to replace them. I was impressed and, frankly, really appreciated the kindness. In fact, I was going to write about it this evening. I guess, in a way, I am writing about it but, as you will see, not in the way that I thought.

We also had a contractor come this week-end and do some paint touch-up work after several windows were replaced. The caulking and paint repair were rather simple – he did a great job. Unfortunately, when I went out in the garage, where he had cleaned his brushes, there were paint splatters on the floor, the trash bins, the driveway and even on my car. Thankfully, I saw them in time to clean off the car without damage. But it was a close call… and I spent several hours cleaning up the rest of the stuff that had been marked with paint. I’m sure that it was an accident… just another inconvenience to deal with this weekend…

But, speaking of the car, we weren’t done. While dropping off stuff at Goodwill this afternoon, I turned to avoid hitting a young man who didn’t notice us at the drive thru. Unfortunately, as I moved the car out of the way, I scuffed the right front wheel on the curb. No major damage, but I will have to have it repaired. The car has had its fair share of trouble this week-end. Of course, this event also fell under the heading of “accident.”

I hope that the accidents are behind us… but out of curiosity, I looked up the subject of accidents in the Bible and found that the word doesn’t even occur in most versions of the Scripture. However, the word “accidentally” occurs four times in the NIV. And all of these occasions refer to times when someone who commits a murder “accidentally” can seek safety in a city of refuge.

In those days, people could flee to a “safe” place and stand trial without fearing that they would be prematurely punished. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s where the idea of the recent “sanctuary” cities came from. Our verse for tonight highlights one of the verses from the book of Joshua that speaks to this issue of having an accident. Joshua tells us, in Joshua 20:9, “Any of the Israelites or any alien living among them who killed someone accidentally could flee to these designated cities and not be killed by the avenger of blood prior to standing trial before the assembly.”

My encouragement this evening is that we all have accidents and as much as we may be upset with ourselves over these occurrences, it is important that we give ourselves grace. We are not perfect and every so often, we receive a reminder that we are human and things will never be perfect in this life. Thankfully, nobody was hurt in any of the accidents that happened here this week-end. That, in itself, is a blessing to be appreciated. My prayer is that while we will all suffer inconveniences, things could usually be much worse than they turned out – thank God. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…

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