Thursday
Apr272006
Tragedy at Taylor
Thursday, April 27, 2006 at 08:18AM
My cel phone rang this morning at about 6:30 and I picked it up groggily to see an Indiana phone number. I have been scheduled to perform at Taylor University tonight, so I picked it up. "Hello?" It was the promoter for my event. She said that a van carrying six students and some faculty was hit by a semi on the interstate last night and that four of the students died. You can read more about the accident here.
The University has cancelled all events for this weekend, so I won't be going now. Please take a moment today to pray for the families and friends of these kids. There's a pretty rough time ahead, I'm sure. And this sounds selfish, but this cancelling is a financial blow for me, as well, so maybe you could throw me in at the end.
I'm bummed I won't get to see those of you who were planning on coming out tonight, hopefully we can reschedule sometime soon. I'll keep you posted as we figure it out. For now, I'm going to try and head back to bed to get a few more minutes of sleep before Ella wakes up to smile brightly at the day that will be so painful for so many because of all of this. What a world, man... I don't even know how to process this kind of thing, and I doubt I'll get that sleep. Some words of Andrew Peterson's feel right at this moment:
"In the end. . .We'll see how the tears that were fallen were caught in the palms of the giver and love and the lover of all and we'll look back on those tears as old tales..."
The University has cancelled all events for this weekend, so I won't be going now. Please take a moment today to pray for the families and friends of these kids. There's a pretty rough time ahead, I'm sure. And this sounds selfish, but this cancelling is a financial blow for me, as well, so maybe you could throw me in at the end.
I'm bummed I won't get to see those of you who were planning on coming out tonight, hopefully we can reschedule sometime soon. I'll keep you posted as we figure it out. For now, I'm going to try and head back to bed to get a few more minutes of sleep before Ella wakes up to smile brightly at the day that will be so painful for so many because of all of this. What a world, man... I don't even know how to process this kind of thing, and I doubt I'll get that sleep. Some words of Andrew Peterson's feel right at this moment:
"In the end. . .We'll see how the tears that were fallen were caught in the palms of the giver and love and the lover of all and we'll look back on those tears as old tales..."
Reader Comments (6)
Oh wow. My prayers for those families. And for yours, too. The Lord will provide. It'll just be differently than how you'd expected. :-)
There never seem to be the right words at times like these. Just know we'll be praying for all of you. And thanks, Andy, for your steadfastness through it all.
Such a sad thing. Will be praying for them and you.
Rich Mullins once wrote...
"Will those who mourn be left uncomforted
while you're up there just playing hard to get
I know you bore our sorrows
and I know you feel our pain
I know that it would not hurt any less
even if it could be explained
And I know that I am only lashing out
at the one who loves me most.
After I have figured this all out
What I really need to know
is that you who live in eternity
hear the prayers of those of us who live in time
We can't see what's ahead
and we cannot get free from what we've left behind
I'm reeling from these voices that keep screaming in my ears
All these words of shame and doubt, blame and regret
I can't see how you're leading me
unless you've led me here
To where I'm lost enough to let myself be led
So you've been here all along, I guess.
It's just your ways
and you are just plain hard to get.
In a bizarre twist to this story, one of the survivors of this accident was mixed up with one of the other passengers in the crash. The other passenger's parents had been taking care of the surviving comatose girl who they thought was their daughter.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13067706/" rel="nofollow">news story here
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/sns-ap-mixed-up-victims,1,2666623.story?coll=chi-news-hed
http://lauravanryn.blogspot.com/2006/05/wednesday-may-31-2006-100-pm.html
This is really sad! I can not imagine how both families must be feeling at this time.
Shannon