May 2nd: We Still Remember!

There is a sacred hush that comes over my heart and that of my wife every May 2nd--I guess it always will.

It has been thirteen years since the first May 2nd burned its impression into our hearts.

The Green Lawn youth group was driving back from an awesome spring retreat in the mountains of New Mexico when a 5th wheel trailer struck the bus I was driving, ripping through the  side, leaving a trail of destruction and taking the lives of six precious young ladies.  In total, seven lives were lost that day (a passenger traveling behind our bus was the seventh fatality) and thousands more impacted by the staggering losses of the day.

Our lives will never be the same, because we dare not let those we love go a moment without knowing of that love.
Our lives will never be the same, because we often hurt for those who have lost precious moments with their little girls, sisters and friends.
Our lives will never be the same, because we can not deny the peace we have in knowing that those we lost are with the Lord--a blessed peace beyond understanding.
Our lives will never be the same, because in tragic death the victory of Christ is certain--the tomb is empty!
Our lives will never be the same, because they are filled with a deeper longing for Heaven.

I keep this key in my desk.

It was one of the things I took from the bus on that day and something I see often and keep as a reminder.   A reminder to pray for the families and all those involved in the tragic events of that first May 2nd.  It also serves as a reminder to live the remaining years of my life with wild abandon and love of my Lord, Lisa, Braeden, Shelbee, family and those I am blessed to minister with and to.

As the sacred hush of this May 2nd nears a close, the Lord brings these verses to mind:

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed — in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

 “Where, O death, is your victory?    Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain (I Corinthians 15:22ff).

So...to all those whose heart keeps May 2nd close, until that Great Reunion Day, labor on in the Victory of our Lord Jesus Christ!