This past Friday I went to a funeral for a married couple - ages 65 and 63. I have to back up to go forward. One week ago Saturday - so January 5, 2013 - I was perusing Facebook and came across a post from my friend Randee. She was clearly distraught. It was her birthday and she had gone up to County Line to ski with her boyfriend. While in the parking lot getting ready to ski, she witnessed a horrible accident. The parking lot for County Line is a narrow pull off from the highway. The speed on the highway is 55 degrees but has blind curves.
A gentleman had pulled over to let a car pass. The car passed and the gentleman proceeded to attempt a U-turn. As he was making his U-turn a car was coming from the opposite direction and had to swerve so he wouldn't hit him. Well this young man - only 21 - swerved into this parking lot and hit this married couple head on, tossing them 30 feet into the air - most likely dead on impact.
Randee's boyfriend as well as many others attempted CPR on the couple for a long time. Although 911 was called, an ambulance did not come until 60 minutes later. There was a doctor on the scene - a skier - who called their death. Some people though kept trying with the CPR. Once the ambulance arrived and perceived that the couple was deceased, they said they could not transport them because they were dead.
Randee was posting all of this on Facebook and I felt for everybody involved. The next morning I checked Facebook and did not see the post anymore. I messaged Randee and asked her how she and her boyfriend were doing. She said, "It gets worse, the people killed were friends of a friend." Jim - the boyfriend has since been having trouble sleeping.
Fast forward to Monday at Bookcliff Middle School. Joe's science teacher - an awesome teacher, Mr. Constan is not in and will not be in all week because his wife's parents were killed in a horrible accident over the weekend. Same couple. Yuk!
I don't know the whole thing just "got" to me. The funeral was Friday and I decided I was going to go - if for no other reason I would go in support of Mr. Constan. I felt like they did a really good job. In light of the killings at Sandy Hook elementary school and this accident here, people we witness to or talk to really wonder, "Where is God?"
This couple had worked with the Division of Wildlife for many years and had moved to Grand Junction to retire and be near their grandchildren. The woman preacher talked about how God is good always. She did say we don't have God's protection. That I would disagree with, but she went on to say "storms come in in life. God did not cause the storm." It was at a Methodist Church where they had been members for many years.
About a month or two before this I attended another funeral. This was for a man who was in his 50's and had committed suicide. His daughter had swum with Jessica for many years and he was just the happiest, friendliest guy you could meet. At that funeral,the preacher started off right away saying that the gentleman had had both hips replace over the summer and was having an awful time with the narcotics they give you for pain. The narcotics totally changed his personality and were giving him the thoughts of suicide.
I was immediately thankful that Jessica was able to ween herself from the narcotics after both of her shoulder surgeries. She had actually been in more pain before the surgery than she was in after.
But life is precious and life is short. Even as I write this I hear of the Central High School women's swim coach passing away this past Friday. He seemed healthy as could be one year ago. Somewhere between then and now he was diagnosed with cancer. He was coaching to the end - carrying his oxygen with him. Again another young man in his 50's or maybe early 60s.
I want to be ready with an answer of truth for those that seek the truth in these situations. We cannot afford to give up on God as an individual, as a society, as a nation.
It's been a while since I've written and I have a lot on my mind. Hopefully I'll keep this writing up.
Hug your loved ones!
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