fragile...

3.21.2008: Good Friday.

11:46:15 AM:
Amy and I are stopped at a light in Jeffersonville, IN with 7-8 cars in front of us.

11:46:32 AM:
A lady driving behind us looks down and slams into the back of our 8 month old Kia Spectra.

11:46:32:03 AM:
Being propelled at a rate of speed of approximately 40 mph, our car slams into a van in front of us.

11:46:35 AM:
We realize it was not a terrorist attack, but that we were hit by a driver behind us. Thankfully, no one involved was seriously hurt. Aside from chiropractic visits, everyone should be fine.

2:15 PM:
As the reality of what happened sets in, we think about how fragile and fleeting life truly is. One second I'm talking to my wife. The next: the only thing keeping me from being thrown around the car like a Rag Doll is a seat belt. Within one second, our lives could have been cut short or at least seriously impeded.


Our lives truly are fragile. We run around all the time thinking how invincible we are (admit it: you do it, too!) and that tomorrow will be here. Even if we don't believe that, we live that way. We put things off until tomorrow. We do not enjoy the present as much as we should. Many times we are wishing for the past or gazing towards the future. The present slips past in our utter temporal confusion.

Things like death, car wrecks, etc. have a way of putting things into a different perspective. They [help] us see what is truly important in life: God, family, friends, love.... The big screen plasma HDTV is nice, but it is not important. The biggest, nicest house is good, but it's about to be repossessed due to those stupid sub-prime mortgages. The jag is sweet, but is it worth the bleeding from my ears everytime someone scratches it?

Life is full of experiences that majorly stink. They are an inconvenience at best and make us feel like our heart and soul is being ripped apart at worst. They remind us how fragile our lives truly are. Being reminded of frailty makes us question our lives...which isn't such a bad thing.

Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." -James 4:13-15