If God wanted this boy to be saved because he had a plan for him, why not just whisper to the kid "do not step on the mason jar!" You know that old saying, "an ounce of prevention". God being omnisicent and all, you would just expect him to be a little more efficient! Also, why put the thought in the neigbours head to "take out the trash". Why not put the thought in his head to "go save the bleeding kid outside". God is always so vague and low-key nowadays! Not like those attention grabbing miracles of yester year.
Cog, I'll tell why from my perspective. A few months previous to this event, I had been driving home at night. The car in front of me was hit head on by a drunk/drugged/intoxicated driver. I called 911 and then tried to help. Problem was, the intoxicated man who caused the accident was pinned in his car. The car caught on fire. We tried to pull the man out but couldn't. Finally, as the flames started to spread, we all backed off and watched this man burn alive. It was horrific. He screamed for us to come back until the skin had been burned off his face and he was just a skeleton, hanging out the driver's side window. By the time the fire trucks came, it was too late. This haunted me for months. I second guessed what we should have done to save this man. I knew that I was a trained health care worker and had followed the rules, which preclude getting near a burning car that may explode, even if someone is trapped inside. Regardless, I felt horrible for not being able to help this man. He was pinned, really, we couldn't drag him out. I guess he'd have required a tool that could cut through metal. But I still felt terrible. Anyway, fast forward a few months and the above incident happens. You're trained not to go into an incident blindly, because you don't know what you're getting into and you may put yourself at great risk. When I heard the dad screaming about his son, I decided to go against my training and go try to help, even though I couldn't see the situation until I was in it. Then I had to hold that kid down and keep his femoral artery clamped off for 45 minutes. After this incident, my nightmares about the burning man stopped. I was able to accept that, when I couldn't help, I didn't, but that when I could help, I was a decent enough person to do the right thing. I was able to live with myself a lot better after that. I don't know, maybe the little boy jumped on the Mason jar because I needed some confirmation that I wasn't a horrible person. So, in that respect, the little boy unknowingly suffered to save me. Now, regarding why say "take out the trash" instead of "go save the bleeding kid," here's my thought. I had made the decision to back away from the burning man because it was too dangerous for me. I needed to make a decision, just as quickly, on my own to help this kid. It had to be my decision. I had to say "yes" when I was asked to put myself at risk for someone else, someone I'd never even met, for it to be meaningful for me. That's some of what the experience meant for me. StAnn
