Do we take safe travels for granted?
This week we've read of or been involved in several traumatic events.
When I was growing up, my parents always prayed before leaving for anywhere in a vehicle, and I have maintained that habit. (Sometimes I remind my family that I need special guardian angels!)
We also try to thank God every day for the safety He gives us each day--and also thank Him even after we've had our share of accidents.
A pastor's wife in Rapid City messaged me earlier this week sharing the news of a wreck one of the church men had been in that morning. A pickup had crossed the median somewhere along the highway between Rapid City and Spearfish and hit the semi truck that Jason Nisen was driving. Jonathan knew Jason from the Bible Christian Church we've visited, and also because he hiked with him along the ridge of the Black Canyon during a Men Arise event in Colorado a year or two ago.
The pickup driver was killed in the accident, but we are grateful that Jason's life was spared, though he is still in critical condition with a traumatic brain injury. Prognosis is hopeful at this point, for which his family is grateful.
Then a day or two later, I received word that an old acquaintance from my childhood, Ethan Crouch, had died suddenly while jogging. (I guess we need to pray for safety while out jogging, too!)
For one lovely month, when I was eight years old, I attended the same Christian school Ethan and his siblings attended. His sister Bethany was in my second grade class, and she became my best friend. She had to wear only white blouses and plain dark blue or brown jumpers, and since I only had two or three outfits myself that were unusual, we connected immediately because of how different we were both expected to dress. Ethan was always a kind person, and he was a piano tuner. My youngest sister Kezia tells how he came to tune her piano there in Illinois two or three times in recent years, and he would always ask about our family.
Two nights ago, Danny got a fire call at midnight for a tire shop that was ablaze on the main street of Mission. We pass the place all the time and have done business there. Danny was planning to leave for Colorado in the morning to join the elk hunt, so he hastily grabbed the eggs and goat milk he was taking, along with all his duds, and took off. For five hours he fought fire, slept a couple hours, and drove on to Colorado. We were so thankful to hear he arrived safely after so little sleep.
And then this morning Jonathan was roused from sleep at 4:15 by Keith Lavery, a fellow missionary who is on the Mission fire department. There had been a terrible crash right on Rt. 83 between here and Mission. A pickup sideswiped a semi, the semi trailer came unattached, and the semi cab rolled in the ditch. Something caught fire and the two in the semi cab lost their lives, while the driver of the pickup had life-threatening injuries as well and was transported to Sioux Falls. The passenger of the pickup came out with few if any injuries--amazingly.
The reason Keith was calling was that all kinds of stuff was on the road from the truck. Where was the mission's skid steer and trailer when they were needed? Of course, they had to be all the way over in Winner at the moment. Jonathan could not get back to sleep for a long time after that. The road was closed for hours.
We have so many things for which to be grateful, and to not take for granted.
Thank You, Lord, for watching over us.
And please, tenderly care for those who have lost family to accidents and disease and crime in this world of sorrow and sin. Send Your angels to protect, to comfort, to sustain, and to touch with love and mercy each one who suffers this evening.
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