Why do we think that we're the exception?

I saw a movie once. I don't remember the name of it. I can't remember what it's about. I couldn't tell you who played in the starring roles.

But I remember actually not seeing it one time, but seeing it twice. Watching it back to back, one night right after the other. I knew going into the movie that the parents would get killed in a car accident. The start of the movie showed the car losing control and the wreck happening that would take two people's lives, then backed up in time and showed you how circumstances got them there.

They were home with the kids. The husband wanted to go out and celebrate some big happening with friends. The wife wanted to stay home. The husband won.

After finding a sitter and kissing their children good night, they went to a friend's house to party. There was lots of drinking, loads of alcohol consumed, and finally getting in their car to go home greatly intoxicated. An argument was ignited on their way, and I knew the exact spot, the very curve in the road, the particular speed they'd be going when the man took his eyes from the road to focus on his wife's face while making his point and careening into an oncoming vehicle before flying over a cliff and turning over several times before landing upside down.... killing both of them instantly.

I vividly remember seeing it the second time and panicking because I knew they'd do it again. I so badly wanted to holler at them, to scream them a warning, to beg them to stop. I kept thinking, "Don't you remember you did this last night? Don't you remember how much it cost you? Don't you remember that if you don't do something differently it'll end the very same way as it did the time before? You'll die! It'll kill you! Your children will lose their parents!"

As crazy as it sounds, the lesson impacted me enough that night all those years ago to impact me still. I still wonder why people go down the paths of disaster after seeing the lives of others taken and don't believe that that same path will happen to them. It won't take my life. It won't addict me. It won't captivate to control me. I can handle it. It's not really dangerous. It's fun. When all the while the enemy's working. He's tempting and tantalizing and disguising his plan in hopes to ensnare and corrupt and cripple or hurt or control or kill someone.

I ran across a verse last night that prompted my remembrance of that movie. It's found in Lamentations 1:9 and says, ".. She did not consider her destiny; therefore her collapse was awesome..."

Woe!

She did not consider her destiny!!!!!!

How many people don't consider theirs? How many people don't think that the path where they're going will land them in the place that it will???

Why, I wonder? When the evidence of so many people that have gone down that road lie all around them? Why do we never think it'll happen to us? We won't get caught? It won't hurt us? I'm just playing. You're making a big deal out of something that's not serious.

Why don't we know that we can't hold hands with our enemy on the road that he so gaily wants to take us without ending up in captivity somehow? Why do we not know that Satan plans for our "collapse to be awesome"? That this road we're accompanying him on will lead to a disaster?

Another version reads, "... She did not consider her future. Her fall was astounding..."

Another, "She defiled herself with immorality with no thought of the punishment that would follow. Now she lies in the gutter with no one to lift her out. "LORD, see my deep misery," she cries. "The enemy has triumphed. The enemy has plundered her completely, taking everything that she owns.."

Here is another verse from that chapter (vs 1), "How lonely sits the city" [in our spiritual application: How lonely sits the girl... the boy... the man] "that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave"!!!!...... "Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude; she dwells now among the nations, but finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress."

Do we really think we won't get caught? Do we think we won't be a slave? Do we somehow believe that we'll miss going into exile, serving our enemy? Are we so thoroughly convinced that we won't be overtaken by our pursuers? Do we think we can escape the enemy that desires to have us while eating the forbidden thing that he offers? Do we think we won't have any consequences? Do we think that there will really be no price to pay? Do we think we can honestly get away with it? Do we think that we won't really have to reap what we sow?

Meet Jacqui and see a glimpse of her story:

Not everyone who gets hit by a drunk driver dies. This picture was taken 4 years after the accident that left Jacqueline badly burned, and the doctors are still working on Jacqueline, whose body was covered with 60% severe burnings.

This is the way Jacqueline Saburido used to look before the auto accident.

This is the car in which Jacqueline traveled. She was hit by another car that was driven by a 17-year old male student on his way home after a couple of hard packs of beer with his friends. This was in December 1999.

Now 22 years old, he cannot forgive himself for driving drunk on that night five years ago. He's aware of the devastation he caused Jacqueline Saburidos life.

The look in his eyes tells you he has asked God many times to forgive him, but he cannot forgive himself. May God Have Mercy on him and give him Peace.

Check out this video (be sure to watch it to the very end past the credits):


Some will read or see this and say this is just a story. It would never happen to me. I am more careful than that. More responsible.

No! It's not! It's not just a story. It's not an exception. It doesn't only just happen to a few. It's very real. It was unplanned. Unintended. Thoughtless. Careless. Irresponsible. And it dramatically changed the life of a girl forever... horrifying the man that did it to her. So many argue the point that they wouldn't drive after they drink. But regardless of what anyone says, intoxication is stupid, it doesn't care, it doesn't make sense, it loses self-control, it does things it normally wouldn't, its action are influenced by the poison of the drink.... on purpose! That's what its made for, that's its purpose, that's its plan.

Believe it or not, everything cost! How much will your fun cost you? How much will it cost another? I hope it's worth it to you. It might not be for somebody else.

".. She did not consider her destiny; therefore her collapse was awesome..."

"... She did not consider her future. Her fall was astounding..."

"She defiled herself with immorality with no thought of the punishment that would follow. Now she lies in the gutter with no one to lift her out. "LORD, see my deep misery," she cries. "The enemy has triumphed. The enemy has plundered her completely, taking everything that she owns.."

"She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave"!!!!...... (emphasis mine).

Still don't think it'll ever happen to you?

They didn't either.

"If only they were wise and would understand this and discern what their end would be!" Deut 32:29 (emphasis mine)

"I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to Your statutes. I will hasten and not delay to obey Your commands." Ps 119:59-60

Do you "consider" your destiny? Have you looked at where your path might be taking you? Are you holding hands with your enemy? Joyously skipping about with the very thing that intends to harm you? kill you? destroy you? ruin another? Or. Will you hastenly turn and not delay, because you've been warned, before it's too late?