One cold winter day in Denver, Colorado, while people were absorbed by the activities of life, a backdrop of snow and sleet fell to the ground. As the people of Denver went about their daily routines, one woman was focused solely on her child. Today was the day she was taking her newborn baby home from the hospital after a longer-than-usual stay. Shortly after birth, the child had open-heart surgery. Although the doctor probably didn't have to tell her, he reminded the new mom to be extra careful with the fragile child.
She buckled the newborn safely in the car seat, got in herself, locked the door, put on her seatbelt, and drove toward home. Icy rain and snow accumulated on the roads. She turned onto Interstate 25. The wind picked up, blowing the snow across the road, making it more difficult to see. She tightened her grip on the steering wheel and glanced in the back seat at her newborn. The windshield wipers moved in fast motion. Squinting and tense, she noticed something unusual ahead. A car had skidded out of control and was turned sideways. She was headed straight for it. She reacted quickly and slammed her foot on the brake. Her mind was on her frail, postoperative child as her car slid, heading right for the car in front of her. They slid down the interstate and stopped only inches from the other car. No impact whatsoever. Inches from a collision that could have been life threatening.
Before a sigh of relief could be released from her lungs, she noticed a semi-truck barreling down the highway and skidding right toward the two cars stuck in the traffic lane. She heard the brakes of the truck squeal as it jack-knifed and slid toward her car. The front of the truck stopped less than a foot from the hood of her car. And the back of the truck surrounded the other end. Again, no impact, at least for her vehicle carrying the frail baby.
What occurred behind the truck was a 60-car pile-up. Cars crashed into the truck and into one another. It was one of the worst accidents the city had seen. But there, at the front of the heap was a car carrying a newborn baby recuperating from open-heart surgery.
As the media descended on the area, a reporter interviewed the mother. She told the reporter, "It was like I was in a circle of indemnity." (Printed with permission from Tim Wesemann from his book, 'Seasons Under the Son')
When I first read this story, the image of the awkward-looking circle made by the jack-knifed truck and the car surrounding her vehicle was immediately etched on my mind and kept moving around in my heart. "A circle of indemnity?" I looked up the definition of indemnity and found it to mean protection, safekeeping and care. I then marveled that this circle of protection was not made up of impartial objects but consisted of those also involved in the horrifying circumstances.
We live in an imperfect world where we cannot escape pain or loss but we often forget that we are not alone. God wants to bring us to safety within His circle of indemnity: A place made up of people like you and me, a place where we can experience His presence and be encouraged by His promises.
God's circle of indemnity lies in the context of small groups. He created us to be relational beings. He created us to be in relationship with Him and He created us to be in relationship with one another. It is in a small group that I have experienced men and women placing their wrecked lives in the hands of Jesus. It is in a small group that I have experienced the wonder of God's amazing grace … grace that heals. It has been in that circle of indemnity that I have experienced the strength of God's love and I have experienced the power of His Word as we've applied it to our lives. A circle of people involved in the same horrifying circumstances of life as me … victims turned victorious by the grace of God.
Are there those in your small group who have hit a patch of ice in their life? Are some skidding out of control expecting a life-threatening impact? Are there people in your life who feel their efforts seem in vain as they try to change direction, as they try to stop the force propelling them into great peril? Do you witness people in your life sliding aimlessly through each day without hope?
Is your small group a circle of indemnity? Is it a safe, accepting, healing haven from a cold, dark, slippery world? Is your own life surrounded by relationships with your group members? Are you surrounding those in your group with your life?
The pile-ups are going to happen. We will all endure pain and suffer loss, but God has called us to surround one another in the midst of our circumstances … to love one another (1 John 4:7), to accept one another (Romans 14:13), to encourage one another (1 Thes. 5:11), to spur one another on toward love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24), to bear with one another and forgive each other (Col. 3:13), to speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19), to instruct one another (Romans 15:14), to submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21), to not give up meeting together (Hebrews 10:25) … Fifty-nine times in the New Testament God calls us to live in community with one another. It is clear that He never intended for us to experience this life alone.
As you purposefully live out the "one-another's" in your small group the shelter of protection, safekeeping and care will be evident to all the members. And those who are piled up on the outside will be drawn into this circle of indemnity as they hear the witness of those who form its crude-looking borders.
