Last summer, in July Taran was on his way to a Switchfoot concert at Saltair. His friend, who is a year and a half older was driving. They got hit from behind and went into a spin and hit the divider and spun back across and stopped on the shoulder, this is across a three lane freeway during rush hour. A miracle alone that they didn't get hit multiple times and that they weren't seriously injured. When the mother of his friend called me about it I felt total peace, of course neither of us knew the half of what had happened yet. Taran's other friend in the car had an aunt close by who took the boys onto the concert and Tim picked them up later after it was over. That's when we started to hear the whole thing. Later my friend told me how they went up to see the car--totaled. Those boys were recipients of God's tender mercy. They had a lot of fun at the concert but I think they all knew that God had spared them and they had been protected. The reality of this hit me as I read my son's notes about his EFY experience which he had asked me to read, his testimony of God had been strengthened. I was so grateful for that and his safety.
Last Saturday my niece was coming from a band competition in Idaho. She is the member of the AF Band that had an accident. There were 4 buses and she was on the one bus that crashed. If it hadn't been for the teacher who tried to correct the path of the bus after the driver passed out (now we hear from kidney stones) they would have crashed in a worse spot. The only fatality was the teacher. She sacrificed herself in the end for the people on the bus, she was thrown and killed. Everyone else lived, with minor injuries at that. Another miracle, another tender mercy. God is great, kind, merciful and loving. Sometimes things are more tragic, that doesn't mean he loves those people any less or their loved ones, it just means that it was the best outcome for all involved and someday we will know why. But in this case only one tragedy occurred when many could have been seriously injured or killed. This experience seems to have inspired the band as they have gone on to compete in honor of this brave teacher and won. They know they must live worthy of her sacrifice that they were spared and must do their best and be their best selves in honor of her gift.
This experience along with my son's has strengthened my testimony in God and his son Jesus Christ. They live and love us and watch over us. How many times do they save us from ourselves? Some day we'll know. It has caused me to ponder, Christ sacrificed for me, that I might have peace in this life and live again after death...shouldn't I live to merit that sacrifice?
4 comments:
Wow, I don't remember hearing about Taran's accident. I've thought about Janna's experience a lot, too, and thought how merciful it is that even bad things can be positive things too. That teacher's death is tragic, especially for her family, and yet how many hundreds of people's lives were influenced for good because of what she did--it's a great thing!
I didn't realize Taran's accident was so serious. Glad that he and his friends were spared. It has definitely been a week to ponder HF's tender mercies to all of us. I think of how grateful I feel to Heather for sacrificing her life for my daughter. It has also caused me to think more deeply about the Savior's sacrifice to save all of us. If I feel grateful to Heather, how much more grateful I should feel for the Savior. This experience has caused me to ponder a lot about that. Sometimes I don't show that gratitude enough by how I live my life.
I never posted the full story about Taran's accident because it didn't all come together for me until he had me read the EFY notebook. That's when I realized how serious it had been when he wrote about it in that. I really didn't know until a lot later so by then it's old news but Janna's experience has stirred up these thoughts and gratitude in me.
I love you Rachelle! Love your strength and your willingness to bear witness!
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