Guess how many Deer-Automobile collisions occurred in the United States last year?  Go ahead, guess.  150?  That is way too low.  1500?  Low.  15,000?  Still too low.  150,000?  No, you’re not even half way there.  Last year there were more than 1.5 million Deer- Automobile collisions reported to insurance companies in the United States.  That figure is up 7% from 2006.  These collisions resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars of damage, thousands of serious injuries, and more than 200 deaths.**

  The state with the highest number of Deer-Automobile collisions was (not surprisingly) The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, with 98,313 collisions in 2007.  The state with the lowest number of collisions was Hawaii with 57.  I must tell you that the Hawaii number is more surprising to me that the Pennsylvania one.  White Tail Deer are so thick in Pennsylvania that they have their own softball leagues (the McKeesport Antlers were last year’s 3-A champions, besting the Meadville Bucks 13-3).  But how did 57 people come to accidentally collide with deer on the Hawaiian Islands?  Is there an indigenous deer population in Hawaii, or are these deer on vacation from the mainland?

            If 57 people can collide with deer in Hawaii, what else could happen?

            If you can hit a deer in Hawaii, then I guess a volcano erupting in the Commonwealth of Virginia is not out of the question.

            1.5 million people represents about .6% of the general population, and slightly more than 2% of drivers.  This means that over the next 10 years you have a one in 5 chance of colliding with a deer while driving your car (that is a 5 in 5 chance in Pennsylvania).  Are you prepared for this probability?

            Theodore Geisel, a.k.a. “Doctor Seuss,” wrote a book more than two decades ago entitled "Oh the Thinks You can Think!", which has been a popular graduation gift.  The first time I saw the title, I thought to myself, “Indeed!”  Then I realized it was a book about positive possibilities, not perilous portents.  Honestly though, if 1.5 million of us will collide with a deer this year what else could happen?

            Oh…..so many things.  Some of us will be bitten by poisonous spiders, trip down staircases, fall off battleships, choke on raisin-toast, be attacked by a swarm of those African bees, have freakish accidents with harmless household items, be involved in train-wrecks, hunker-down in the face of hurricanes, be mangled by farm machinery, and some of us will even spontaneously combust.  If I think about this much longer I will hyper-ventilate.

            So let me get to the scriptural point.  The Bible readily admits that we shouldn’t obsess about the troubles of tomorrow, because “each day has enough troubles of its own” (Matthew 6.34).  We are not to be overwhelmed by the troubles of today because: God is present with us in every difficulty today (Isaiah 43.1ff, Psalm 23), and because we have a sure reward tomorrow (Romans 8.18, Revelation 2.10).  The Bible reminds us that to expect things to go as planned is hubris, and we should remember we are dependant on the will of God (James 4.13-16).  Since we cannot predict what the future will bring we must prepare – not by being ready for any contingency, that’s impossible – but by being right with God (I Thessalonians 5.1-11, II Peter 3.1-13).  Between now and judgment - oh the things that can happen.  Judgment will happen.  This we know, and this we can be prepared for.

                                                                       
* This article is dedicated to David Pamplin, who, a few weeks ago collided with a deer on his morning commute.   **Statistics in this article come from “Deer Crashing” in National Geographic, October 2008, p.24.