Saturday, February 16, 2008

Awakening

I wanted to share this story with everyone who may be reading this blog in hopes that it may inspire you. Thursday night (Valentine's Day) Marty & I went to bed after watching a movie around midnight. Around 12:20am I was woken up by Marty who was putting his clothes on frantically and telling me he would be right back. I asked where he was going, and he said he had just heard an accident behind our house and he needed to go and make sure someone was coming to help. He jumped in my car and sped off into the night. I lied in bed, my heart pounding, just praying over and over again for God to help whoever was in the accident and that Marty would be the hands and feet of God to help wherever needed. Not too long after Marty left, I heard sirens, and it just made my heart sink. I thought, maybe, just maybe, Marty didn't hear correctly and there was no real accident with people in trouble. I was wrong. Marty called a few mintues later and said it was pretty bad. He arrived at the accident at the same time as a single ambulance was pulling up. He and two paramedics got out of their cars to approach the one vehicle involved which was off the road and in the trees. As they were approacing the vehicle the car went up in flames. Marty looked at the two paramedics and they looked back at him. They all knew what they had to do. They ran up to the car and while Marty and one paramedic pried open the door, the other paramedic pulled out the young woman who was the driver. She was the only one in the car. They pulled her to the side of the road and checked for a pulse. They couldn't find one. The paramedics started CPR, and Marty moved away and waited for the police to come. Once the police arrived, they told Marty he could leave. He came home with adrenaline rushing through his body and was pacing back and forth. We looked over our back fence to see if the ambulance had taken her away yet, and they were still there. Marty kept repeating, "I just keep thinking about the phone call her family is going to get tonight." We stayed awake for a while longer wondering how the girl was doing and praying she would be ok. I think Marty probably slept a total of 2 hours the whole night. Marty left town early the next morning, and I got up with the girls. I made a phone call to a friend to tell her the story and she said she would ask her neighbor, who is a fireman, to make a call for us and find out how the girl was. She called me back with the news that the young girl did not make it. I had to call Marty and tell him. We found out later that she was 21 years old. The point of this whole story is that it was an awakening to Marty and to me. This young girl had so much life ahead of her, and in an instant it was taken away. We have been doing the "One Month to Live Challenge" through our church, which basically is living our lives as if we have 30 days left to live. We are reading a book written by our pastor and his wife every day and journaling about our experience as we live our lives as if we have nothing to lose. The challenge has definitely made a life changing impact on the little details of our lives, as we try to cherish every moment with our girls and with each other. It really is living fully. The experience from Thursday night for Marty and for me has just solidified our desire to truly live our lives like we have only days left, because we really don't know how much time we are given here on this earth. And since we don't know, why not live our lives every single day as fully and passionately as we possibly can, so that when our time does come, we can know we have done what we could to fulfill God's purpose for our life. It is truly liberating. Embracing the stark reality of my own mortality has been the most freeing thing I have ever done. So, I just wanted to tell the story and share our experience in hopes that maybe someone who reads this will be inspired to live every day for today, to embrace the present like they never have before, to stop living for tomorrow and for yesterday, but for the day that we are given right here, right now. It is a gift from God...every second we have breath. What a way to live our lives and what an example to set for our children...to treat every moment we have as a gift. If you are interested in learning about the One Month to Live Challenge and/or getting the book, you can go to: www.onemonthtolive.com


3 comments:

Holly Miller said...

Hello my family.. this really was a touching story. I just read Shea the whole thing over the phone because it really is one that people need to listen to. I think that one of the most ironic things is when something good can come out of something so tragic. For most of life's most upsetting things we realize more and more about God and how is grace works. During my junior year high school prom my friends and I all had such an amazing time dancing and staying up all night enjoying our high school years. Early the next morning my phone had rang and the news that I recieved made me drop to my knees. I had found out that one of my friends had been driving his girlfriend back to her house at around 6 in the morning and had been in a head on collision. He did not make it and his girlfriend was in intensive care. Having all of my friends at my house the next morning was one of the greatest gifts ever. We were all there to hold eachother and comfort eachother in our recent loss. I think that this horrible experience taught us all to appreciate how valuable life really is. To know that our friend had been dancing and laughing with us the night before was a stark realization of how quickly out time on earth could be taken away.

I am sorry to hear that you two had to experience that but I am also glad to see that it has helped you guys realize more about your own lives. Like the saying goes, "God works in mysterious ways." Now we can just hope that the young girl and my friend have found their grace with God and are in his loving arms. : )

Lindsay said...

Holly,
Thanks so much for writing. You are so right, and to learned what you learned at such a young age is definitely a gift. Can't wait to see you in 3 weeks in Mexico!

Lindsay

Lacey said...

Wow...what a heartbreaking story. Glad I found your blog. I'll add you to my blog-roll. :-)