You Never Know...

...the hour, the day, the week, the month, the year your life on this earth will end. We have to be ready!

This past week has been one of those heavy emotional type weeks. Last Monday an 18-year-old boy from Georgetown was killed in a horrific car accident. I didn't know the boy--Tyler Martin--but my son Austin did. Tyler graduated from Georgetown High School in 2010. He ran track with several of the boys who hang out at my house. Everything seemed to be going well for Tyler. He was attending school in Kansas, running track, and had tons of friends. Austin remembered him as the boy who always had a smile. But last Monday Tyler made a horrible, fatal mistake. For reasons unknown, he pulled out in front of a semi-truck in the middle of a sunny afternoon. He and his passenger, Sammy, another 18-year-old from New York, were killed.

Tyler's funeral was Friday. On Thursday evening a friend picked up Austin to go to the funeral home for the viewing. I can't imagine a sadder sight than a car load of teenage boys headed to pay their last respects to a friend. I'm sure a similar situation took place in New York for Sammy.

The same day I heard about Tyler, I read a prayer request on the prayer e-mail loop I'm a member of for two young men, ages 19 and 20. They had been at a friend's house on Halloween night where there was a bonfire. Apparently at some point the fire died down and someone poured a flammable liquid on it...and then threw the can into the flames. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know what happened next. The can exploded. The 20-year-old boy caught on fire and his 19-year-old friend tried to put out the flames. Both are severely burned over most of their bodies. The 20-year-old may lose both of his arms. I couldn't help but think that my 19-year-old son was sitting around our fire pit that very same night with some of his buddies.

To end this sad tale, yesterday at church we heard that a 22-year-old young man from our sister church was killed that very morning while putting out road signs with the church service times. He was struck by a car. Our church has people put out signs every week and I doubt they ever thought they might be killed doing such a simple task.

BUT...

...and that's a BIG but!

None of these events took God by surprise! We humans are shocked and stunned when tragedies like these happen, but God is not. He knows it's going to happen and He allows it for reasons we will probably never fully understand. Yes, good can come from bad, but for the most part I doubt any of us get the big picture.

You never know when your time on this earth will end. You MUST be ready! You MUST know Jesus as your Savior, because once you leave this earth your time to make the choice about him is over.

My hope and prayer is Tyler and Sammy and the 22-year-old young man were ready. None of them expected to die that day.