When Falling is a Good Thing

I tend to be around a lot of elderly people.  There are some things that I don't like about elderly people, such as the desire to hold on to traditions and racism, but there are a few things that I really admire about them.

Every once in a while you will find one that has all sorts of health problems and difficulties, but is still genuinely joyful and optimistic.  They also tend to have a work ethic that will put me as a computer-generation-kid to shame.  I have seen eighty-year-olds work circles around me; it is kind of pathetic.

I heard a good story about an elderly man today.  Most stories about elderly people tend to have something to do with health, and this is no different.  The medical aspects to the story were apparently even verified by a doctor.  This man was on a ladder and was working on something electrical.  (That is another thing about elderly people; how do they all seem to know how to do stuff like home-repairs and mechanic work?  I don't know how to do anything more complicated than hooking up a Wii.)  As he was up on the ladder working, he shocked himself.  The story goes that he shocked himself badly enough that it stopped his heart and basically killed him for a second.  But, since he was on the ladder, when his body went limp, gravity was able to rip his hand from the suction-type grasp of the electrical current.  Not only did his fall pull him away from the electricity, but when he hit the ground, it was a strong enough jolt to get his heart to start beating, just like George Clooney shouting "clear" on E.R. 

Think about it: if whatever he was working on did not require him to be up on a ladder, he would be dead.  Falling off of the ladder unleashed him from the electricity and jolted his heart back to functioning.  It's amazing, really!  Something that would normally be bad, such as falling off a ladder, actually could save your life.  

It is intriguing how electricity works.  When an electrical current comes into contact with something, it tends to not let go.  People that are electrocuted often are unable to free themselves without the current being stopped in some way.  This man was lucky enough to fall off the ladder.

Sometimes life is like being caught by the strong grasp of electricity.  Maybe you are in a situation in which you feel trapped, maybe a relationship, or something work related and you are unable to free yourself.  No matter how hard we try, something stronger is pulling at us and forcing us to remain where we do not want to be.  Sometimes it is our own doing; we are slowly killing ourselves by holding on to things that we should let go of. How many times have you heard about a woman who chooses to stay with an abusive husband?  She just can't seem to let go.  How many times does an alcoholic go back to the thing that he knows is tearing his family and life apart?  He just can't seem to let go.

This is the kind of situation where falling is a good thing.  When we fall down as a dead man, a miracle might just happen and bring us back to life.  We fall down.  We are humbled by gravity and our inability to hold ourselves up.  We fall down and we shatter. When we fall down in humility, God can lift us.  He not only gets us out of the mess in which we were stuck, but He can put us back together again.  

The LORD upholds all who fall 

   and lifts up all who are bowed down.

Psalm 145:14 // NIV