"God was in there with us!"

The way her voice trembled as she said my name told me immediately that something was wrong. About fourty minutes earlier I had kissed her goodbye as she, and my two youngest children left on a mission to sit on Santa's lap. Now Sheryl was telling me that they had been in an accident, "Mitchell, it's real bad. But I'm O.K. and so are the kids." To say that my heart sank would be an understatement, thoughts that no one wants to entertain were racing through my mind. One thought that is still haunting me are what could have been the final words I spoke to my wife and the lack of words said to my children. At 11:00 A.M. this morning Sheryl and I stood in front of Subway, we said goodbye, gave each other a small kiss and she ran to our Nissan Pathfinder, because of the rain I didn't go to the car to tell John Austin and Chloe goodbye. It is this exchange that haunts me.

We were not angry with each other, there was no animosity between us, we just went through the standard parting ritual that we have established throughout our years of marriage and the kids, well, I let a little water stand between us today. The thought that this could have been the last moment I spent with Sheryl, John Austin, and Chloe keeps popping into my consciousness. As I explained previously, it wasn't that it was a bad exchange, it's that it was simply an exchange, something that we went through like some sort of obligatory rite of marriage and parenthood.

After hanging up the phone, I rushed to my truck to go to the site where the Pathfinder hydroplaned off the road, struck a tree, and came to rest at the bottom of a ten foot embankment. Sheryl and the kids had been picked up by some local boys and driven to a convenience store about two miles down the road but not until they had gotten completely drenched from the winter rain. My heart rate steadily increased as I got closer to the market where three-fifths of my family was waiting on their husband and daddy to come and rescue them. I ran into the store quickly scanning the aisles for a familiar face when I heard my name called out, only this time the tremble in Sheryl's voice had been replaced with relief, it was one of the sweetest sounds I have ever heard. I turned my head toward the sound of Sheryl's voice and there I spotted three drowned mice wrapped in a borrowed children's sleeping bag. I joined them on the floor as we exchanged hugs and began shedding tears. Chloe grabbed hold of me harder than she ever has before and laid her little head on my shoulder as Sheryl reached in for a hug. John Austin had accepted the role of "man of the house" in my absence. Chloe recounted how he had grabbed her hand and used his body to shield her during the accident and now, in the aftermath, he stood behind his mother with his arm around her shoulder comforting her. Families rally in adversity and ours is no different.

I learned a valuable lesson from this experience that I pray you never have to go through in order to learn it, so listen. Treasure your family and never miss an opportunity to let them know just how much they are loved. That might sound a little cliche but, it's only when you are faced with the reality that at any moment your loved ones could be gone, do you realize how much we take them for granted. It shouldn't take such "wake up calls" to remind us to savor each moment God has blessed us with.

Chloe said it best this evening as she told her big sister, Reagan, about the wreck, "God was in there with us!" Indeed he was baby girl, indeed he was.