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Newsletter May 2007

Wake-Up Calls

Whenever you check into a relatively nice hotel for the night, you will generally be asked by the front desk clerk if you wish to “request a wake-up call.” I almost always ask for the call and then set my personal alarm clock for a few minutes before the hotel phone will ring with my computer generated “wake-up call.” Having a hearing loss, I appreciate all the help I can get waking up on time to catch an early flight or make a breakfast meeting. Those kinds of wake-up calls are an invited blessing for the weary traveler.

There are, however, wake-up calls that come into our lives that are uninvited and unexpected events that have a way of changing our lives or at the least, our perspective of life, relationships and eternal values. Probably the most noteworthy wake-up call in the Bible was the one that Saul, the zealous persecutor of Christians, received from Jesus Himself on the road to Damascus. That encounter changed his name, his entire life and his eternal destiny. It is amazing how one brief moment in time can change everything.
The moment you accepted Jesus, decided on a career direction, met your spouse-to-be, signed papers at the bank to buy a house, or decided to act on your dream to move to Alaska….those kinds of things change the content and texture of your life for years to come.

On the negative side, things like a knee injury while playing ball in high school, a crash-and-burn romance, the premature loss of a parent or child to death, a job layoff, a car accident or a downturn in the stock market also serve as wake-up calls and can alter the course of our lives in very significant ways.

Very few people really LOVE change. In fact, if it isn’t something like the changes in your life that a raise in pay or winning lottery ticket my bring, it has been said that the only person who really enjoys change is a wet baby!!

A week or two ago my good friend, Hilmer Kiser, had an accident on the road to Anchorage. There were at least a half dozen ways in that accident that he could have been killed or at least seriously injured. It was indeed a miracle of God’s mercy that he walked away from it with no obvious injuries. For Hilmer, finding himself and his truck almost 300 feet from the roadway watching the water flow beneath him on thin ice would be what I would deem a royal “wake-up call!” Then, just as he was about to get off the ice to the safety of the highway, he fell through the ice and completely submerged in the river flowing under it! Wake-up call #2! I imagine that moment might have approximated what Peter experienced when he began to sink after walking on the water toward Jesus. Anyway, the end of the story is that Hilmer made it safely to shore and after a check up at the hospital ER, continued on his journey…and all of us friends and his family are rejoicing that he is OK.

When I learned of this accident, it really caused me to pause and reflect on the loss I would have felt had the end result turned out differently. Did he know how much I valued his friendship? Had I expressed my admiration for his ministry and love of the Word? Did he know that I respected him? My mind then went back to hours spent in his boat, waiting for the stubborn fish to bite and talking about the things that were important to us including the issues I just mentioned. However, as I continued to process the wake-up call effect that his accident triggered in me, there were some names and faces that came to mind with the awareness that they are only a phone call or an email away and I needed to not just think about it, but hit the action button and communicate with them. How about you?

God Bless You.

Wayne Coggins

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November 2007

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