Why Am I Still Here?

Why Am I Still Here?
By Wayne Hinton
May 3, 2015

Why am I still here?
Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense.
As I look back over the years,
Life almost stopped on several events.

First, when I was very young, my mother fed me an apple
She never gave it a thought to peel it first.
Mom knew apples were good for health and teeth
And gave it to me not fearing the worst.

I choked on the peel. Doctors were called.
I’m not sure how long I was without air.
They watched me carefully and nurtured me
So that I recovered after the scare.

God must have had something He wanted me to do.

Nothing can protect children from the accidents that loom
Around each and every blunder.
Falls, cuts, bruises, breaks are all a part of growing up.
Survival is often a wonder.

Then driving a car becomes a teenager’s dream.
I was fortunate to have a cousin with one dad could afford.
A couple of minor mishaps taught me a few things
Then, I was enamored of and bought a 1955 Ford.

It was beautiful – emerald green with many coats
I really felt like I was in the car I was meant to own.
On a two-lane highway, three cars behind a three wheel tractor,
I decided to pass them all in a legal passing zone.

It may have been seven years old, but I owned it only six days.
When the tricycle tractor turned left into my path
I ended up in a ditch with the motor racing.
Turning off the ignition key, I dove out of the car with great wrath.

The car was totaled and I was in a state of awe again.
It was time to move on and my next experience
Was driving home from college for a weekend.
I made it to the last highway exit in a state of weariness.

God must have had something else He wanted me to do.

Suffice it to say, I fell asleep at the wheel, running off the road
I awoke as I was swerving onto the gravel.
Why I was able to compose myself, I will never know
It makes more sense that my nerves would unravel.

A few years later, after college graduation,
I became friends with a co-worker who was non-controversial
He had his pilot’s license active but wanted to
Progress so he could go on to fly commercial.

As we flew into Cincinnati Airport, he found out
His brakes didn’t work, but we escaped
Missing an incoming jet plane without incident.
We didn’t even have time to be afraid.

Later, on his test flight, the instructor told Jerry
To put the small plane into a stall.
I didn’t know this, not that he could recover,
In my mind, my life was over – that was all.

It became clearer in my mind that God had something He wanted me to do.

There have been many other incidents in my life
Where survival was very uncertain.
Yet, I am still here to tell my story
Before He closes the final curtain.

Prostate cancer and lymphoma were treated
With chemo and radiation treatments for a cure.
Then heart trouble sent me into hospital stays
And procedures that I did not think I could endure.

My attitude has stayed positive and my doctors
Have been beyond my greatest hope.
Yet, I was totally convinced that I did not have the strength
To come close to be able to cope.

Often in this life, God keeps us alive
Even when we don’t know how or why.
And many times, it may be after a few years,
He gives us other situation that explain the reasons from high.

So – why am I still here? I can only presume that God has something more that He wants me to do.