Hearing the Phone Ring

If you have ever received a phone call with bad news you know the feeling you get the next time the phone rings. And the next time, the following time, and for some months down the road when the phone rings.  Living far away from family usually means I will get good and bad new over the phone. 5 years ago I received a phone call that my dear Aunt had passed away, just a week or so later another phone call that my step-mother's father had passed away. All of my grandparents passed before I was born or shorty after I was born, so Pa was the only Grandaddy I had every known.  It took my quite a while to not go into panic mood when I had more than one missed call from multiple people back home.  Then just a few months down the road I received news that my childhood pastor had also gone to be with Jesus. Phone call after phone call after phone call.

In recent years I haven't received many phone calls with bad news so my anxiety level when my phone rings is pretty level.  Last night I missed a call from my sister while I was trying to load the kids up in the van to head home from church.  As I get in the van, Josh tells me Wayne called him and said my sister was trying to call me. I knew I had missed her call and thought to myself they must be without electricity or their winter storm was getting crazy for Wayne to have called Josh. So I call my sister back and she tells me....

Just a few hours earlier I called my Daddy a little after 6pm thinking with the bad weather coming he would be home. He informed me he was heading home and the roads weren't very good so we quickly got off the phone. Before we hung up he asked me to pray, and I did. I have always prayed for my Daddy out on the road. When I was little I would tell him every morning before he left in his big truck; "Read your Bible, take a nap, think about me, pray!" Obviously I wanted him to take a nap when he was being loaded and unloaded not while driving ;)

"Daddy is okay, but he was in an accident today!" The words hit hard, I'm sure much harder had someone been hurt.  I was okay because my Daddy was okay and so was the other person.  She then begins to tell me what she knew of the accident and the heaviness begins to set in.  My Daddy who is a truck driver had an accident and hit someone else.  He could have been killed, someone else could have been killed.  God's grace, mercy, and protection!

I am so thankful to God that everyone is okay and I am praying for the other driver and my Daddy.  The trauma related to any accident can stay with you and I pray that Jesus would touch their minds and give them peace. 

News Story of the Accident and Pictures