Considering Consequences

admin Sep 15, 2020 1691 0

One of my good friends called me
sometime last year amidst tears and
asked me to pray for her younger
brother.
She had just been told that he was
involved in a car accident.
I tried to comfort her as best as I could,
and I assured her that I would pray for him.
After the call ended, I started to pray in
tongues for him and suddenly, I started
getting scared.
I used to feel physical pain in my stomach
a lot whenever I was afraid or anxious,
but that had stopped in over a year…
until that day. Somehow, I just knew
her brother had passed on.
She called me a few hours later to
confirm that he had indeed passed on.
Distraught doesn’t adequately capture
how she sounded over the phone.
She hadn’t fully come to terms with
the fact; just as is the case when
most people receive bad news.
She just kept repeating over and over
again how she didn’t understand
what her brother was doing in a
mortuary after an accident.
She expected he’d be taken to the
hospital and not a mortuary.
My friend couldn’t come to terms
with the death of her only brother
who was 33-years old.
In between reminiscing about his life
and expressing her unbelief of the
whole situation, she explained to
me what had happened.
Her brother lived in the USA and was
studying for his PhD in a different state
from where his young wife and daughter
lived.
Because of the close bond he shared
with his family, he drove at least 7 hours
often to spend time with them.
He was driving on the highway – which
is usually a narrow road with only 2 lanes
and vehicles going in the North and
South direction.
He was in his own lane while a guy,
who was driving a dodger and trying to
overtake other vehicles, moved to his
lane and collided with him in a ghastly
accident that claimed his life.
The errant driver survived.
I spent the next few days with my friend
and she showed me the picture of the
accident; it was unreal.
The damage to her brother’s car was
devastating and looked highly horrifying –
like you see in action-movies.
My friend’s brother was full of life and an
all-rounder.
He was extremely good-looking and
brilliant (finished with a 1st class in Chemical
Engineering from UNILAG, graduated
summa cum laude from his MSc program
and just rounding up his PhD program prior
to his death).
He was devoted to his nuclear and extended
family and friends, and very down-to-earth.
Everyone who knew him, even those who
only knew him briefly, had nothing but
good things to say about him.
And even in his death, his good deeds
lived on. His death left a huge void in the
lives of all his loved ones, especially his
wife and child who was very attached
to him.
The life of the driver who caused his
death and those of his family, as well
as the lives of the family and friends
the deceased left behind, have been
changed forever simply because he
was driving in the wrong lane and
trying to overtake other vehicles.
If he had known that the consequences
of his action would result in my friend’s
brother’s death, he would never have
driven in the wrong lane or tried to
overtake other vehicles.
Often times, that’s what happens
when we do the wrong things.
We cannot always accurately predict
the consequences of our wrong actions
while we take them.
Often times, it’s only after we’ve done
them that we are able to see the effect
and the negative impact made.
A lot of the seemingly inconsequential
wrong things we do on a daily basis
have lasting negative impacts that we
may never even know on this side of
the earth.
Not all wrong deeds have obvious and
visible aftermath like someone’s death.
If King David in the bible knew beforehand
that the consequences of sleeping with
Batsheba would lead to the death of his
kids, his son sleeping with his wives,
his son trying to kill him and other
abominations, he most likely wouldn’t
have slept with her.
We can’t see into the future and foretell
the impact of the wrong things we do
today so it’s better we just try to do
the right thing.
Some years ago in church, my Pastor
defined corruption as illegal behavior.
In Nigeria, most of us accuse our
leaders and politicians of being corrupt
but whenever we engage in illegal behaviors,
no matter how little and unimportant
they seem, we too are corrupt.
For those of us who are believers, we
can’t keep saying “I’ll ask God for forgiveness”
or “God would understand” right before
doing what we know to be wrong.
I know it’s difficult to do the right thing,
especially when you live in Nigeria but
I hope we all remember how something
as little as driving in the wrong lane
led to a young man’s death, left his wife
a widow, his daughter fatherless, and
left a huge void that cannot be filled in
the lives of his family and friends.
It’s important for us to be more aware
of our actions and the consequences
they may have, and then choose to do
the right thing all the time.