Left-of-Center

Left-of-Center.  Besides being an awesome name for a potential garage band, Left-of-Center can uniquely alert one’s senses to hyper-awareness. It happened far too rapidly to react, a work truck drifted more than halfway across the double yellow lines into the on-coming lane of morning commuters. Kapow! My driver’s side mirror never had a chance; its plastic and glass remain scattered across Arrington Bridge Rd near the bend at Casey Mill Rd. It was a near-miss, a few inches from a head-on collision at 55 mph. No other damage occurred than the lost mirror, which was estimated as “not enough damage to meet your deductible.”

I saw the whole thing play out, plus a whole lot more. In addition to watching the dude speed away without even tapping his brakes, I saw my life pass before my eyes: wife, kids, work, half-finished projects around the house. My typical hit-by-a-bus scenario perhaps ought to change its central metaphor to a left-of-center white Ford F150 pickup. Either way, whichever metaphor applies, a brush with death has a strange way of affirming life.

The sense that remains, after my adrenaline-soaked senses returned to their default settings, is that there is still work to be done, much more than on my never-ending garage-to-apartment renovation. The gospel has prepared me for my inescapable death by the promise of resurrection, for sure, but there is still work to be done in the ministry sense. Disciples of Jesus are half-made. Disciple-makers of future disciples of Jesus are half-launched at home and around the world. My left-of-center experience has forced and focused an unplanned evaluation of my life, values, and relationships.

“For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). I’d never considered how personal that statement was to Paul himself when he languished in prison irons. Not everyone can speak such a sentence and mean it, especially after the left-of-center moments when everything involuntarily snaps to attention. But Paul could. He was not teaching at that point as much as testifying. Paul did not signify a death-wish but concluded that important ministry remained still unfinished. “If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again” (Phil. 1:22-26). Paul retained purpose in life.

Frankly, retaining purpose in life is worth more than a side mirror, or the $106 it will cost for the generic replacement part. There is still work to be done. Dust off and carry on.