An Early Morning Drama

It happened about 4 this morning. I don't know if I was already awake or if it woke me up.

Not the squeal of tires. More like the sound of air brakes. And then a boom.

A big BOOM!

I lay there a minute trying to figure it out. No sirens. But definitely something not right.

I scrambled out of bed, wandered around the dark house, and peered out the windows. Had to be an accident. But I saw nothing, so I started back to bed. And then I heard something else.

Thunder? An explosion?

And then my phone rang. Abby.

"Mom! An accident on the highway. Fire!"

And then finally sirens. Lots of sirens.

I ran out back through the wet grass to watch the flames shoot toward the sky about a quarter mile away.

And when the flames died, we heard saws.

Details still unclear. Two semis involved? Original reports indicated a tanker. Apparently not so.  One passing another? One left the scene? One driver injured?

Someone said, "It was an Old Dominion truck pulling twin 28 ft van trailers. The passenger side fuel tank on the Old Dominion truck hit the landing legs of the other truck and started the fire."

Whatever that means.

The truth is they are still trying to piece it all together

And it's a mess out there. Steady stream of traffic rerouted off highway, across the road, and back on. Workmen and trucks and officers still on the job 8 hours later. Still a faint scent of burnt rubber. Lives disrupted. People hurt.

From our perspective, it seemed impossible for anyone to survive.

That's the problem with human perspective. It's limited. Things are not always what they seem. We don't know the whole story. Speculation masks truth. Rumors spread. Lives are disrupted. People are hurt.

The tongue is a fire.

"It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell." (James 3:5-6 - Message)

This we know for sure at this moment:

1. There was an accident.
2. There was a big fire.
3. A semi burned.
4. There were many responders.
5. There was sawing.
6. A short stretch of highway was closed.

I deleted all my early posts from Twitter and Facebook about this early morning drama.

Waiting for the whole story.

Copyright © 2010 by Sandra Heska King

SAFE!

 Kirthmon F. Dozier / Detroit Free Press/MCT

I listened to the end of the game on the way home from the hospital last Wednesday.

Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians.

I could feel the excitement through the radio. The noise was deafening. Ninth inning. Twenty-six Cleveland batters out. Tiger pitcher Armando Galarrago one out away from a "perfect game." Cleveland batter Jason Donald hit a ground ball. Routine play. The first baseman, Miguel Cabrera, snagged the ball and tossed it to Galarrago, who touched the bag ahead of the runner.

Done deal. Out! Positively, absolutely, undeniably, and reliably OUT!

But then disbelief.

Shock.

First base umpire, Jim Joyce, called Donald safe.

SAFE!

Chaos. Confusion. Confrontation.

But not from Galarrago.

He smiled, said nothing, and went back to the mound to get the next batter out.

Later he said, "Nobody's perfect."

And later Joyce apologized. He and Galarrago shook hands.

And hugged.

Joyce could have taken the next day off. But he didn't. He took his place behind home plate.

He cried.

I cried.

What life lessons of integrity, humility, honor, forgiveness, grace, courage, self-control, understanding, sportsmanship!

Lessons that would have been lost if Donald had been "out."

If official records showed a "perfect" game.

Instead we have perfect lessons from a "less than perfect" game.

I can't imagine any better outcome.

A perfect game that wasn't.

Yet was.

The Tigers will donate the first base bag, Galarraga's spikes, and a ball from the game to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The story will be told.

And lessons will be learned.

In baseball and in life.

Because no matter what "bad calls" come our way, it's all good, because we are safe.

Safe in our Father's arms.

And He turns the "bad" into good.

And I can't imagine any better outcome.

Copyright © 2010 by Sandra Heska King