God Sighting

In the almost utter darkness on the frozen Assiniboine River, where bare branches reaching out from their snarled trunks sheltering the dim glow of city light above the treeline, appears an unusually tall figure who looks like a 9-foot tall man of Nordic descent. His thick head of silky blond hair appears to glow in the dark as it flows gently. He is dressed in a white cotton tunic with matching loose-fitting pants. The ends of his belt, made of the same material as his attire, dangle breezily as the man gracefully moves on the frozen surface of the river, as if gliding on a layer of thin air. He is definitely not dressed for a minus 37 degree Winnipeg winter. He is unearthly out of place, and out of time (Or, is he?). How very strange!

With a seemingly effortless swish of his arms, this ethereal being gives a desperate young man, who had fallen into the frigid river, a tuck and a push so gentle that the rescued hardly notices anything as he finally succeeds in heaving himself onto solid ice after several desperate attempts.

God shows up and saves my son from an untimely death, again!

Another God sighting in my totally oblivious, insensitive and undeserving life!

Last night, at 10:30 p.m., Mikael decided to go for a walk down the Assiniboine River to the Forks for skating on the river. He dressed for the cold and equipped for the walk and skating.

In his curiosity to check out a riverside sewer culvert, Mikael edged along the riverbank to check out the big metal conduit that looked empty and dry. As he bent down to look closely at knee level, he felt the earth gave way below him. The thin ice cover broke as Mikael slowly sank down while he watched a surrealistic eruption of snow rushing skywards.

His next sensations were the stench of raw sewage and the icy sensation in his back. He found himself nipple-high in the sewer-saturated Assiniboine River.

Mikael tried to grab onto ice pieces, but, they simply disintegrated and floated away. He did not feel any river current swishing him away. He floated on his back and dog-paddled backwards until his head touched solid ice. He turned around and made several desperate attempts to get up onto the ice surface. However, his layers of soaked clothing weighed him down so much that he had difficulty heaving himself up. He simply hung onto the edge of the ice while dangling in frigid water to catch his breath.

That was when God showed up. He sent an angel, a Nordic one out of His sense of humour for the 50% of Mikael's biological and cultural make-up, to save him as He has done so many times before.

God simply loves Mikael so much and He watches over him and saves him in His right time.

Is that ever wild or what!

God has done so for me as well so many times that I, in my absolute oblivion, never even noticed.

Like Michelangelo's famous painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, God reaches down towards Adam (that's me; that's Mikael, that's you) with an extended arm, hand and index finger. All we need to touch Him is to make an effort to believe that He is only a wisp of a prayer away.

God is always as close to us as He can be without violating our freedom of choice. Having come so close to touch us, He allows a little space, like a finger-sized gap, between us and Himself so that we may choose to touch Him, ask for His help, or not at all.

Our God is a gentleman God who never imposes His divine will on us. He gives us the freedom of choice to invite Him to bless us, heal us, save us, dwell in our live, or sadly, leave us alone.

God waits for us to ask.

Yes. Can you believe it? My God waits for me to ask. He is patient, to boot! He has an eternity within which to wait for my response. But, I have only my lifetime to respond. If I were too late, I'd be out of here for good.

Isn't He an awesome God?!

Thank you, Father, for showing up for Mikael last night.

Thank you for being our Creator-Saviour-King!

Amen

P.S. To read a first-hand account of Mikael's misadventure, please go to:

http://mikaelsmisadventures.blogspot.com/2008/12/on-falling-into-river-and-perfect-hair.html

Have fun reading Mikael's account.