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The headlines over the past few days have been dominated by the news of the accident on I-75 just outside of Gainesville that happened early Sunday morning. The first I heard of it was right before going in to 11 am worship. Although we prayed together as a congregation for all involved in the accident, none of us, at that time, knew the magnitude of the tragedy. Monday’s national news identifies it as the worst in crash in the US in the last 20 years. As we learned about the identities of those involved, what was just a news story became real. For me, the parallels between my life and the lives of some of the crash victims were a little too close for comfort.
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Perhaps you read about the two pastors returning from a conference in Orlando. One decided to stay an extra day. His colleague decided to make the trip and was killed along with everyone else in the van he was in except his 15 year old daughter who is now in critical condition at Shands. On Tuesday TV 20 News interviewed our daughter, Emily’s dance teacher who is also the head of the Fine Arts Department at Santa Fe College. She was asked about one of her former dance students, Christie Nguyen, who was the 7th crash victim. Christie leaves behind a young son. Lidiane, the youngest daughter of the pastor who died, will in time, if she makes it, find out that both her parents as well as her sister have been killed.
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This tragedy not only makes me want to hug my own family members a little tighter, it reminds us of how quickly life can change and how none of us know how much time we have left. Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 says, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die.” It is easy to lose sight of the fleeting nature of life. But the truth is, our lives, as we now know them, do not go on forever. Once in a while through tragedies like Sunday’s crash, we are reminded of this reality. We, unlike those who died, have the chance to live one more day. We have the opportunity to love God and love each other. So what will we do with the time we have left? Carpe diem: seize the day. If there is someone you need to make amends with, do it now. If there are words that need to be said, say them now. Make today count. ”This the day that the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)
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Grace, peace, and justice,
Pastor Dawn
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