{"id":5445,"date":"2026-05-19T08:32:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T12:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/?p=5445"},"modified":"2026-05-19T08:32:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T12:32:17","slug":"close-calls-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/19\/close-calls-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Close Calls"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast<\/em>,\u00a0click here<\/a>
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Life is full of close calls.
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On February 9, 1709, a couple named Samuel and Susanna tucked their children into bed in their modest cottage in Epworth, England.
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Samuel was an Anglican priest known for his energetic preaching. Susannah, who had brought 19 children into the world (nine of whom lived beyond infancy), was the original homeschooling mom. Every child, from an early age, was expected to learn Latin and Greek and memorize generous portions of Scripture.
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The family was poor. There weren\u2019t many furnishings in the house. Four years earlier, Samuel had spent time in a debtors\u2019 prison.
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Somehow, about 11:00 pm that winter night, the roof caught fire. Sparks falling from the ceiling awoke one of the older girls. Her screams roused her parents, who managed to shepherd all the children outside.
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Except for one.
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A five-year-old boy \u2013 child #15 in the birth order \u2013 appeared at a second-floor window. The stairs were aflame and the roof was nearing collapse. His only escape was to jump.
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A man who lived next door hopped upon the shoulders of another man. He extended his arms and caught the child just as the roof crashed into the rest of the house.
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Years later, that five-year-old would tell rapt audiences that he considered himself \u201ca brand plucked out of the fire.\u201d Few doubted that John Wesley \u2013 the founder of the Methodist Church and the one through whom perhaps more people have come to faith in Christ than through any other evangelist \u2013 had been spared for an extraordinary future.
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Think about the myriad close calls that have been part of your life \u2013 including the ones you know absolutely nothing about.\u00a0
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Do they mean something?\u00a0Are they just lucky breaks or providential interventions?\u00a0How can we possibly know?
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God knows.\u00a0The biblical doctrine of providence<\/em> comes from the Latin words pro<\/u><\/em> (\u201cbefore\u201d) and video<\/u><\/em> (\u201cto see\u201d).\u00a0God sees everything in advance.\u00a0
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In fact, God simultaneously sees all of reality \u2013 past, present and future \u2013 and the totality of life\u2019s complex interconnections.\u00a0
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What Scripture tells us is that there are no trivial happenings.\u00a0Author and theologian Francis Schaeffer was fond of saying there are no little places and no little people.\u00a0God is fully attentive at every moment.\u00a0 And this moment \u2013 this very one<\/em> \u2013 matters for eternity.
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Sports stars routinely assure reporters, \u201cRight now we control our own destiny.\u201d\u00a0We do nothing of the kind.\u00a0The truth is that we control almost nothing.\u00a0
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One of the great questions of our time is where ultimate security can be found.\u00a0Is it available through a great job, an adorable spouse, wise investments, a foolproof burglar alarm, or strategies to counteract terrorism?
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Psalm 34:7 reminds us: \u201cThe angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.\u201d\u00a0
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You are alive right now because God has preserved you through every close call.\u00a0The best advice we could possibly heed with regard to finding security is, \u201cTake hold of God with all of your heart, and never let go \u2013 confident that he will never let go of you.\u201d
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Oh, and one more thing:\u00a0
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Be sure to change the batteries in your smoke alarms every six months.
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here\u00a0Life is full of close calls.\u00a0On February 9, 1709, a couple named Samuel and Susanna tucked their children into bed in their modest cottage in Epworth, England.\u00a0Samuel was an Anglican priest known for his energetic preaching. Susannah, who had brought 19 children into the world (nine of whom lived beyond infancy), was… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5446,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1115,351],"class_list":["post-5445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-john-wesley","tag-providence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5445"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5447,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5445\/revisions\/5447"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}