Second Chances
I have known and respected Neal Pollard since we were
classmates at Faulkner University in the 1980s.
I did not know until recently of what he calls his “second chance.” Here is part of his story:
We were living in Cairo, Georgia, and I was in the third
grade. It was during a game of kickball
on the playground and I was the "pitcher." A kid kicked it hard and I caught it. As the ball hit me in the gut, I felt a sharp
pain. Something wasn't right. My parents took me that week to see the local
doctor. He thought it might be a
hernia. Exploratory surgery in
Thomasville instead revealed a tumor on my liver. My parents and I flew to Atlanta, Georgia,
where I was checked into Egleston Children's Hospital. Extensive testing there and in Emory
Hospital, the general campus for Egleston, led my team of doctors to the same
conclusion: it was cancerous. They tried
to prepare my parents for how slim my chance of survival was. Even if their diagnosis was wrong, surgery
and attending blood loss may well be more than I could stand. My parents maintained great faith, and my dad
solicited prayers from congregations all over the place. [After the surgery], Dr. Gerald Zwiren, who
led a team of highly-skilled doctors, brought the news to my parents that I
survived the surgery and later shared the oncology report that my tumor was
benign. That was close to 40 years ago
and to this point I have never had further complications. I certainly received a second chance.
Periodically, I ponder at length what I have done with
that second chance. The scar I bear from
that surgery has long since become invisible to my daily view. I suffer no lingering consequences. That event is certainly not why I chose to
become a preacher, as if to try and pay a debt to God for saving me. Sadly, despite His mercy in sparing me, I
have sinned in ways great and small that reveal, in addition to all else, a
failure to appreciate that blessing.
Spiritually, whether as a preacher, husband, father, or Christian, I am
saddled with the realization of how far I have to go. With the help of His Word, His providence,
and His strength, I continue to try to make the most of this extra time He gave
me back in 1979. *
Consider a similarity from Neal’s experience to our own
condition…
Because of our sins, we find ourselves lost and doomed to
destruction. As Neal writes, “By all
human calculations and efforts, nothing could be done to save us.”
But God loves us so much that He gave His Son Jesus to
die for us so that we might have the forgiveness of our sins and receive the
gift of eternal life (John 3:16; Romans 6:23).
Although we are lost due to our sins, God gives us “a
second chance.”
God will save and give eternal life to those who place
their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in
repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are
baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). The redeeming blood that Jesus shed on the
cross will continue to cleanse those who continue to walk in the light of His
Word (1 John 1:7).
God is the God of second chances. Take Neal’s words to heart: “You may have messed things up badly in your
life. You may feel that it is impossible
for God to love and forgive you. [But]
God is the God of the second chance! His
diagnosis is perfect, and His is the only one that counts! Trust in the Great Physician. He has never lost a patient who followed His
prescription!”
Won’t YOU trust and obey the Great Physician and make the
most of the “second chance” that He provides in Christ?
– David A. Sargent
* Neal Pollard, “What Do We Make Of God's Second
Chances?”
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