A very scary event happened about three years ago. A recent story I read made me think a lot about what happened to me AND how truly precious life is.

We certainly have a difficult time seeing anything special in the lives of people like serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy, don’t we? However, we have no difficulty identifying special characteristics in our children, grandchildren, spouses, parents, friends, even some neighbors (grin).

The evening this happened, at 10:20 PM, Tonka and I were returning from a visit with someone with whom I regularly counsel. He lived out on one of our nearby keys. We were traveling about 20 m.p.h. down a very dark road, right next to the sandy beach on the Gulf of Mexico. Suddenly, without any warning, a two year old girl ran from between two parked cars. She was dressed in a bright red swimsuit. In her left hand was a sand bucket. In her right hand was a plastic shovel.

I pulled Tonka quickly and powerfully to the left and very narrowly missed the little girl. I could hear adult voices coming behind her. That scene is burned in my memory. I’ve awakened several times since, in the middle of the night, reliving that moment. It’s like that scene is a snapshot, frozen in my memory. I’m sure her parents are kind and loving people…people who would never, under any circumstances, willingly allow their little girl to run the risk of being run over by a truck.

They just got a little bit careless and let her run ahead of them as they headed toward their car. That little bit of carelessness nearly cost them the precious life of their daughter. That little bit of carelessness nearly gave me a horrible, life-long fact with which to deal…causing the death of a child. The fact it would have been ruled accidental wouldn’t have made coping any easier for me.

I did come away with a concrete and expensive reminder of the incident. In swerving, Tonka’s electrical wiring harness came loose, melted on top of the hot header pipe, and shorted the alternator, voltage regulator, and some other high-priced “…ator”.

Parents! Grandparents! Brothers! Sisters! Baby-sitters! Nanny! Neighbors! Sunday School Teachers! Youth Leaders! Anyone who has any responsibility for supervising children! Don’t try to squeeze in another task. Don’t let that child out of your grasp – even for an instant! Tie a rope around his waist; put a harness around her body; handcuff her to your wrist. Be extra vigilant.

When you’re driving in a neighborhood, expect the unexpected. You can’t possibly be in a big enough hurry to justify hitting and injuring or killing a child.

Are there some spiritual Life Lessons in this incident? Of course! Do you remember a song from a few years ago? “Put your hand in the hand of the man who rules the waters; put your hand in the hand of the Man who calms the sea…” I don’t remember the rest of the words, but I do remember the message. Christian, don’t grab your sand pail and shovel, slip out of His hand, and go running off in the dark across a dangerous road!

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