Ever often thought about and/or prayed for someone you don't even know...nor is there any likelyhood of every meeting them? That has taken up a bit of my mind time on this Saturday...and especially as this quiet day concludes.
The week past, for me, for us, was like a rollercoaster in downs and ups and speed. Mid-afternoon, yesterday, we headed for the hills to do dinner with some friends who were finishing a family vacation up in Summit County. We were glad to "get out of Dodge," if even just for the evening.
If you've ever driven I-70, westbound, from Denver, you know that you go through the Continental Divide via the Eisenhower Tunnel and sail on down to Dillion, Silverthorne, Frisco, Breckenridge, etc. We were due at our friend's at 5:30pm and were fairly proud of the fact that we were on time.
Until...........
...zipping down the freeway, rounding the bend that showed Dillion Reservoir in the near distance, cars were coming to a screeching halt. Within seconds we realized that we had just moved past a smashed car and people were running to atttend to the injured.
About a mile down the road we could see flashing lights off to the right, and a host of cop cars and ambulances were zooming up the freeway to a turnaround place and then coming back beside where we were stopped. It was a littered mess...and traffice was stopped cold.
Through texts and tweets and cell phones, those of us who had gotten out of our cars pieced together that a semi had eveidently lost control and crashed down the hill. The cargo...those large, heavy cement barriers that are in the middle of highways. They were evidently scarttered around the freeway and had caused other multiple points of damage to other vehicles. Ugh.
Finally, 90+ minutes later, we began to slowly move, single file down the hill, and passed by the truck, you see below. It was smashed...and...there was no way of knowing what all the injuries were in this multiple pileup. It gave us pause to be thankful...AND...to ask for God's provision for those injured...and for the families who would soon know their loved ones were hurt...or worse.
The first three pics I took with my iPhone. This one, just above, and the next one, I took off a news website. They are of the cab of the truck. Whoa...........
We were two hours late getting to our friends.
But we made it.
Others had similar plans, most likely, and they did not.
The Broncos lost tonight, and some fans were moaning about how terrible this "hard loss" was on them, like life depended on Peyton Manning being the perfect answer to all things Bronco. It is preseason, for crying out loud, and this is "practice" for the "real thing." It is a loss...of sorts.
For the individuals in hospitals and the families recovering from this horrific crash?.......that loss, in whatever form it showed up, is quite a bit more real.
With any of us, life can change in a split second or two. It is not good to live in fear of the next seconds or minutes or days...but...if that had been us...or even you...30 seconds earlier, in what ways (good and not so good) do you think you would be handling such an abrupt interruption to your own life?
How would you even want people, known and unknown, praying for you?
God...help those people from yesterday.
God...help us all tomorrow.
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