one night

Last night I flew from Tucson to Las Vegas to Nashville after having spent 20 hrs in Tucson visiting my mother and step-father (a free airline pass that had to be used by March 31st). I got into Nashville at 11:45 p.m. Nashville time. Had a 1 3/4 hr drive back to my in-laws in Crossville, TN where my family and I drove down to on Monday (we head back to Akron on Friday, what a week of travels!).

Flying in was beautiful with an amazing lightening rain storm. Best I have ever seen. The storm was horrendous driving home! Scarey. About 30 miles from Nasville, I saw lights off the interstate in a ditch. I stopped. It was around 12:30 a.m. Pouring down rain. A few semis driving by and splashing water. I was soaked. There was a guy in a Jeep Cherokee and he had spun out. No one else had stopped. He was ok, but clearly could not get out of the ditch and woods he had flown into. He didn't have a cell phone. I called 911. Someone had already called it in, but had not stopped. I told him that the police and an ambulance were on the way. He laughed about the ambulance because he was fine. He thanked me for stopping and said "God bless you."

As I started out, I slowed down. I still had a ways to go (got here around 2 a.m.) I thought of that "God bless you." all the way home.

My sister-in-law just told me that Tuesday morning one of her co-workers and her husband were killed by their neighbor in front of their 8 year old daughter. The neighbor committed sucide then. He was mad at them about a fence they had put up. He took a sledge hammer to it and they took him to court. The court found him guilty and was going to sentence him Tuesday. He told a friend he would kill his neighbors before he would spend time in prison. And he did!

There are a host of things happening in the world. I just read the headlines online. We all have things right in front of us though that aren't in the big world's headlines that are at the center of God's vision for the world...and we have some part in it. Don't just read the headlines. Live in the world by the grace of God as an apostle of Christ.