Thanksgiving

Saturday, November 18, 2006

The phone rang at 12:30 am this morning.  I was still up, having just talked with my 16-year old on the cell phone, asking when he expected to be home (every parent of a teenager has been there).  He, his 9th grade brother and three other friends were on their way home from a pizza gathering after the high school play performance.

“Dad,” his voice sounded distressed.  “I’m at the corner of the East Beltline and Leonard.  Our car just got hit.  Can you please come right away?”

“Is everyone ok?  Is anybody injured?”

“No one’s hurt.  Just please come right away, ok?”

I was there in four minutes.  An ambulance, fire truck and the sheriff were already on the scene.

Both cars were totaled.  Thankfully, no one was seriously injured.  A few bruises and minor cuts.  Some very shaken up teenage boys.

“I’m sorry, Dad.  It wasn’t my fault.  The guy ran a red light.”

“I don’t care about the car—I’m just so thankful that everyone is ok.”

The next hour was bit of a blur.  Hours later, after all forms were signed, cars were towed away, everyone was where they had to be, our boys were asleep.  Mary and I were not. 

As I lay in bed recounting the events I kept thinking: “If the impact had happened two seconds earlier, we’d be in the hospital right now—or perhaps worse.”

I’m not usually one to play the “what if” and the “if only” games.  It’s not productive and it doesn’t change events.  But as I lay there, trying to fall asleep, I felt helpless as a parent.  Instinctively, I want to protect my children from such events.  Every parent (especially those of teenagers and college students) has been there too.

I wasn’t there with them when the accident took place.  I couldn’t be.  And likely, I won’t be there with them the next time something like this happens.  But I’m so thankful that God was there with those young men at that intersection.

Perhaps this feeling of helplessness is a good thing.  It reminds that I’m not the one in charge.  God is.  I don’t know why these things happen.  And I don’t know why sometimes they end in tragedy, and sometimes they end with thankfulness as they did this morning. 

But I do know this--my only comfort in times like this is knowing “that I am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.” (The Heidelberg Catechism, Question and Answer One).

Thanksgiving will have a deeper meaning for my family this year.  I’m thankful that I have a heavenly Father who is always there, even when someone runs the red light.

And in those times when I feel helpless, I’m thankful to know that He is the one in charge.

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