The following is taken from the Chaska Valley Herald of June 30th, 1904:
On June 28th, 1904, Freight Train #66 and Work Train #10 collided head on in Chaska, Minnesota. The conductor of the work train, knowing the local freight was about 2 1/2 hours late, thought he could get his train to this city before the freight train pulled out. His train was running pretty fast and coming down a grade when he noticed the local freight coming up the grade. He was able to jump off his train, but the fireman of the Freight Train, C.C. Hewitt could not get out and was caught in the collision. In some accountable manner crawled out of the debris with only his collarbone broken. It is a miraculous escape from death. The injured men were removed to the residence of Wm. Heiman where Drs. Schober and Marshall were summoned and medical aid given them. About 10:30 in the evening they were taken to Mpls. on an extra. Sigafoos was taken to St. Barnabas hospital and died at 2 o'clock the following morning. C.C. Hewitt, the fireman, went to Asbury hospital, and his injuries are not necessarily fatal. Before being taken to the train to be removed to the hospital he asked that he be carried to the scene of the wreck and when shown the cab wherein he was confined, he exclaimed "Holy smoke, how did I ever get out of there alive?"
After preaching for three weeks on "The Pain of Sexual Immorality" I am more convinced that ever that we all have been involved in a train wreck of relationships, broken dreams, shame and sin in this area. However, it is not something that needs to wreck your life. It is not something that needs to define you. Healing is possible! You can be like C.C. Hewitt, who incredibly escaped for the wreckage, only to exclaim "Holy smoke, how did I ever get out of there alive?"
My question for this entry is this:
How do we as the body of Christ help people to escape the wreckage? What have you done in order to help the healing begin?
6 comments:
I think that it is tempting for us to be judgemental of our fellow Christians in this area if we haven't comitted "that" sin; the sin that THEY committed. How prideful is that?! We ALL have sinned and fall short of God's glory. Not one of us is perfect!!! It's important that we be forgiving and full of grace in the area of sexual sin--and all other areas for that matter. Then perhaps we can be God's vehicles of restoration.
I have a girlfriend who had premarital sex with at least one man (before becoming a follower of Christ). When she later met the man she wanted to marry, he struggled with marrying her because she wasn't a virgin, even though he loved her very much. She poured out her heart to me and said something to the effect that if God had forgiven her that sin, how could he (boyfriend) hold it against her? How true!!! Well, she was full of grace for him, giving him the room to struggle through this. And the good news is, he DID forgive her, saw her as Christ saw her: cleansed and pure, and took her as his wife a number of years ago. They have a great marriage and love eachother deeply.
"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving eachother, just as in Christ God forgave you." Eph. 4:32
Because of the unspeakable trauma inflicted upon her by an immediate family member at a terribly young age, she with good reason swore to never trust a man again. We've been dating for a good while now, and I'm the first "boyfriend" she's ever had. In light of what she revealed to me, and the increadible healing that had and has to take place, we set up the following "contract":
Steps for Support
I have the responsibility to:
*Pray daily for
-Healing
-Patience
-Calmness
-Encouragement
-Grace
*Gain Knowledge of the incident
*Listen Empathetically
*Not push for conversation about it
*Be open for discussion when it arises
*Remember that there will be up and down days
*Exude Patience
I have the right to:
*Ask if it is me when feeling distance
*Call them out if I am being neglected
*Ask if I can ask questions
*Talk about the needs that I have
So far, things have been amazing. God has indeed brought healing to her, slowly at times it may seem, but we're commited to work through these things together through the seasons that we are given.
Dear 12:30pm ananymous,
What an absolutely BEAUTIFUL story! I am thrilled with the healing power in that relationship. Do you know if they work at all with other couple's who have similar struggles? I think people who have gone through the pain and restoration of sexual immorality don't realize how powerfully they can speak into other people's lives. Encourage them to do so!
Steve
Even if we hopped on board the right train as far as relationships go, its still rather dark outside when you look out those windows. There is no guarentee: those tracks might end or someone could have parked a buick right in your way. Its good, but also scary that we need to trust and depend so heavily on God in all aspects of our lives.
Hey anonymous,
As someone who's been through a similar situation and is now married, I can say that it is often very hard to know if you're headed in the right direction. The big things that helped me were 1. Praying that God would give me a peace about the relationship if it was something he wanted me to pursue, 2. feedback from friends and family who knew us both well, and 3. feedback from the larger church body and from marriage counseling if you get to that point.
Perhaps we need increase our ability to survey the situation and understand the nature of the rescuing that must be done. Though both are used in rescues, a person does not bring a lifeguard's floatation device to a train wreck. We need to let go of our assumptions of what problems we would like people to have, and begin seeing what problems our world really is expiriancing.
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