One Week Ago // On Accidents and Thankfulness

It's only once in a while that you stop and realise that so much of life's direction depends upon a single moment - one decision, one miscalculation, one split-second can send you down a route you never expected. When Ava and I logged onto her parents evening last Tuesday, and David had still not returned, I simply assumed he was running late. It was only when the repeat calls started coming through from a number I did not recognise that I began to wonder...

"Claire, its me... I've been in an accident"

A shaken voice from someone who didn't sound like his usual, confident self. 

"Where's your phone?' I asked 

"It's on my bike... I don't know where my bike is..."

Within seconds Ava and I were back online with Ava's science teacher... the shock of the moment meant I didn't have the sense to realise this probably wasn't that important right now! As soon as the call was over, I called David back again and spoke to the phone's owner - one of the witnesses. He filled me in.

It turns out David had been hit from behind on his bike by a passing lorry. He was sent flying into a parked car where he managed to stumble to the nearby wall before passing out. The local bus stop had been full of waiting passengers and so there was no shortage of incredible people who went running to him. They kept him with them (he could hear their voices throughout even when he couldn't respond) and called the police and ambulance. The driver too was brilliantly supportive.

David was quickly whisked off to hospital in the ambulance, while the police showed up at our door with his bike - miraculously just some bent handlebars, a damaged pannier and a loose chain. David's injuries appear at present to be surface level - a bashed up leg and a back that seems to be slowly improving every day. Time will tell.

Most of all, I came out of last Tuesday feeling incredibly grateful and thankful... so mindful of the fact that it could have been so different - if David hadn't been wearing a helmet, if the lorry had been travelling faster than the 20mph limit there, if the nearby people hadn't rushed over. Even, as one friend pointed out, if David had seen it coming he probably would have braced himself and the damage potentially would have been worse.

Thankful and grateful. With a healthy dose of perspective.

Really, none of us know what the future holds, and each one of us is much more vulnerable than we ever like to admit... we have been reminded of the gentle care and providential sovereignty of a good God who had his hand over our family last Tuesday, just like he always does. 

And as David quipped afterwards...

"God obviously has plans for me yet"