The Accident Could Have Been Fatal

In the blink of an eye—his world changed forever.
An ordinary day of work navigating ordinary traffic.

What happens in your head when you walk away from a car crash with only a few scratches—from one that by all appearances should have taken your life?

What was he thinking as he slid down in his seat, trying to disappear into the floorboards as the semi continued to fall down on top of his car—the roof becoming lower and lower and chances for survival seeming to slip away by the second?
I know him well enough to be certain prayer was gushing from his lips.

Then it stopped it’s crushing descent abruptly. Stopped by the unlikely— a small headrest attached to a strong seat in a well-made car, a car others smirked at. An older model sedan, it was a block long, with wide bench seats for the older crowd, of which he was too young, but he liked it anyway.

When he was pulled out, what was his reaction to the scene in front of him?

The scene of chaos and near tragedy.

The scene of a semi-truck laying on a blue sedan.

A smashed blue sedan.

His blue sedan.

Already a Godly man, a quiet leader and a shepherd, his life may not change much, but it gave me pause.

We blindly race through life. Busyness blinds us to the reality of our existence, the reality that life is fleeting. It can be snatched away in a second.
I don’t know about you, but I’m a list-maker. I come by it naturally. My mom always had lists written on notepads, on scraps of paper, and backs of envelopes, like my grandmother before her. I love the satisfaction of checking them off:

Call this client.

Purchase that mirror.

Check on those tile installers.

But I need a list of things that matter, things that can easily slip by in a busy day, a busy life. Sometimes it takes a near-tragedy to smack us in the face. I know this in my heart, but somehow they easily get shoved to the back burner by the mundane and demanding.

So what really matters in my life?
1. Kissing my husband good-bye in the morning. Making sure he knows he is important to me and not second to the kids.
2. Spending time uninterrupted with my four children. Relishing the joy of those relationships.
3. Keeping up with my prayer journal. Prayer matters in my life and the life of others.
4. Reading, reading, reading my bible daily. It’s the promises that get me through the rough patches, and solidifies my relationship with the one who died for me.
5. Making my real checklist in life based on the fruit of the spirit. It is our list— handed down by God— for a life of service, a life that means something.

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-Galatians 5:22-23 The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

-What matters most in your life?

-Do your actions reflect it? Make a list of what really matters and tape it to your bathroom mirror to remind yourself to do those things most.