04/03/2023
By Pastor Vinnie Cappetta
"A Brush with Death and God’s Severe Mercy"
My preteen friends and I were playing tag at a friend’s house and the huge Massimino kid was about to end the game for me. He was making his way out of the porch area to capture me. I instinctively put my hands up to the storm door to keep him from barreling through it, when the unimaginable happened. The glass on the storm door gave way creating jagged edges around me as my upper body fell through the square where the glass had been. I will spare you the gross details, but since the glass was not tempered glass like we have today, I received three “lacerations.” I got one cut on my face, one small cut on my right arm and a huge one on my left arm. The slices were so clean and I was in such shock that I didn’t feel much of anything. All I remember was my friend yelling that his father was going to be so mad because the blood was everywhere. I ran to my house where my family took me to a clinic and then to the local hospital where they assured me it was a miracle that I was still alive because the glass came within millimeters of a major artery.
During the sermon on Jonah 4, Pastor Joe stated, “God will send severe mercies designed to soften our hearts.”
God appointed a worm that attacked the plant that provided Jonah shade from the blazing sun. The next day, God sent a scorching east wind and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint.
That’s relatable.
Like Jonah…
- I love the wrong things.
- I love my comfort.
- I love my people above “other people.”
- I love a God that conforms to me.
And God used the severe mercy of the storm door in my life to…
show me what to love (Him and others)
make me uncomfortable (as I sat on the couch healing for weeks and weeks)
to get my attention about preaching the gospel to anyone and everyone (this was my first recognition that my life was not my own and that God had a plan for me to serve him with my vocation)
show me that He doesn’t conform to my plans but I conform to His.
Whenever I become complacent, God reminds me of the storm door.
Whenever I forget my calling, God reminds me of the storm door.
Whenever I think I am going to live forever, God reminds me of the storm door.
Whenever I lose sight of spreading the gospel, God reminds me of the storm door.
Application Questions
- Do you relate to the concept of severe mercy? How so?
- What might God want to teach you about yourself through the severe mercy?
- What might God want to teach you about Himself?
- How does your severe mercy relate to the spreading of the gospel to others?
