Sad Day in the Valley

I had mentioned in a post last week about how many families in our community were having tough situations to deal with. Unfortunately, things took an even more sad twist yesterday. Two young people who graduated from our school system in May of 2008 had tragic ends to their earthly lives, in two separate events - a young woman and a young man.

Amanda, age 18, was returning to college on Monday morning, driving in the rain. She caught the edge of the highway on a curve, tried to correct herself, and ended up crossing the center line, hitting a school bus head on. The bus was filled with students, also from our school - two high school kids, 15 children under the age of 10 (most were preschoolers), a para, and the bus driver. Amanda died upon impact, leaving her family to grieve the great loss. The bus driver, a high school student, and the para were taken to a local hospital, treated, and released. I cannot imagine the insanity of all those children being on the bus... but I do know that we have some amazingly strong heroes in our community, some that everyone knows about along with a few who are silently wonderful.

A young man took his life a few hours prior to Amanda's fatal accident. They were in the same graduating class.

In addition, we have a young mother in a Trauma Center after collapsing and coding at her parents home. We have a former teacher who was in remission from breast cancer that now found spots on her lungs. We have a young man recently diagnosed with West Nile. There was also an accident that has left a young father paralyzed, but with all kinds of other medical complications, he isn't yet ready for rehab to begin. I am sure that there are more situations that I am not thinking of right at this moment - mostly because I am overwhelmed with these other situations... Please don't think that I have forgotten them, because I haven't... they have just become an unfortunate part of recent days/weeks.

Please be in prayer for the families being touched by these losses. Also pray for the survivors who will have their own wounds (both inside and out) to heal. I pray for the school as we all know how grief in such an environment can often cause other problems - unexpected ones, that further deepen the loss. I ask for God's comfort and peace as everyone struggles with the "WHY?" when there usually is no good answer.

Be kind to someone today, if for no other reason than to honor the memories of those whose earthly lives have met a tragic end!
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