Don’t Horse Around
Spring 1985, my mom and dad were doing what any couple expecting a baby does days before the anticipated “birthday” of a new son or daughter, making all the last-minute preparations and being sure the go-bags were ready. Baby Bowden, in this case, me, was ready to greet the world, but an accident involving my dad put everything on pause, including my birthday! Before I tell you what happened, just a side note for all the future dads reading this, if your spouse is 8 to 9 months pregnant, that is not the time to do anything risky! The backpacking weekend with your buddies, skydiving, climbing on top of the roof to inspect some shingles, whatever, all of that can wait! My dad, however, did not follow that rule and it cost him dearly.
The short story is, just days before I was to be born, my dad was helping mom’s brother wrangle a horse. At some point, while they were handling this horse, dad got shuffled behind the animal, and you can probably guess what happened next. Dad took a swift rear leg kick from the horse right to his abdomen. It wasn’t long before my mom knew something was terribly wrong, dad was getting ill quickly and later that night she called an ambulance to take him to the hospital. The doctors found a puncture in dad’s stomach from the horse kick that was leaking toxins into his body. Emergency surgery and a few days later, this incident actually becomes a distinguishing marker in my parents’ faith journey.
Throughout the Old Testament, we read of God’s people setting up a simple altar of remembrance at places where God did an especially powerful miracle. Maybe it was at a place where God dramatically rescued His people, or at a place where God taught them an important lesson. I like to think of these moments as distinguishing markers. They remind future generations of God’s past faithfulness in order to give them strength to continue trusting the LORD in their current circumstances. Generation after generation, God has shown himself to be faithful. These altars of remembrance help us remember that God is perfect, and always faithful. My parents, in their very young faith journey, learned that very clearly in the days following dad’s accident.
Mom is visiting dad in recovery before going off to church and he reminds her to put the tithe check in the offering. She was reluctant because they didn’t have much then and in doing so, that would be the last of their available cash. With mounting hospital bills, and don’t forget, a baby due any day, mom struggled to understand how she was going to give the tithe check. But she did and after church, as she was walking to her car, a man from the Methodist church across the street ran over to her. “Are you Mrs. Bowden, whose husband is in the hospital?” he asked. “Yes I am,” mom replied. He then hands her an envelope full of cash and tells her how his church heard of our family’s situation and wanted to help, so they took up a love offering that morning for our family. It was more than enough money to get mom and dad by, and to say she was stunned would be an understatement.
My parents learned a lot about God that day and learned a lot about living by faith. Whatever your situation is, know that there is nothing too big, too gross, too complicated, too “_” whatever excuse you want to put in the blank for God to redeem. You CAN “live by faith” because God, the object of our faith, is faithful. Hebrews chapter 11 has reminded us time and time again, that “by faith,” God has used broken people to do great things. Their faith was not misplaced, and neither will yours be. Run the race of faith all the way to the finish. What is your “by faith” story that you will pass down to your family?
