Pastor Steve spent his early childhood in Ribera, New Mexico. If you have spent your entire life in New Mexico and just thought "Where is that?" it is a tiny town in rural Northern New Mexico with a population, if you include all the surrounding villages, of about three thousand people. Steve grew up on a farm. He was the second oldest of seven children.
Steve's childhood was filled with early mornings doing chores on the farm and afternoons playing basketball in the backyard with his uncle. Those backyard battles, where they would pretend they were Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, would become epic and even as they moved away from each other later in life, they continued to play competitively into their sixth and seventh decade.
Looking back on that time of his life, Pastor Steve remembers a simple way of life that was wholesome and good. Even though his family was "poor" in material possessions, he doesn't remember wanting for anything. Although he does remember falling asleep under a car he was using as shade from the heat of the New Mexico sun at over seven thousand feet in altitude there in Ribera and being awakened by the vehicle's tire going over his stomach. A member of his family decided to take the car but had no idea that it was being used as Steve's oasis.
Steve remembers having a tire mark across his abdomen and chest but was never taken to a hospital. The nearest medical facility was twenty-five miles away, in Las Vegas. He was shaken up but appeared, outwardly at least, to be OK. If there was internal bleeding or damage, it was never known.
How many times in our lives have we had our lives spared? What tragedies have been averted? Coincidence? Luck? God's hand was there - He rescued you. He was watching you and kept you. Why? What purpose does He have for your life? Have you ever asked Him?
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ReplyDeleteGod has spared my life so many times but one that is so clear to me was when I was 13 Years old my mom, sister, and I were on our way to the mall at 2:00 in the day when we were hit by an 85 yr. old drunk driver who ran a red light. I remember the impact was so intense all I could do was cry out to God to please save us... Our car managed to fly between two light polls and into a Dunkin Donuts parking lot with no parked cars and no pedestrians? No cars? No pedestrians in a parking lot? Not sure how that happened. We all walked away without a scratch. This was definitely God it was his hand that kept us. This was an awakening to my soul and assured me that I have purpose on this earth. I ask God all the time why he has kept me alive when so many times I could of died and he reminds me of my purpose here on this earth. We all have a purpose and sometimes it takes moments like these for us to grasp that. We are all important never think that you were not made for a purpose.
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