Sadness and Joy

We have had a rather rough week this week. Monday morning we got the call that Jeff's dad passed away suddenly at home. He had been sick, but we were under the impression that he wasn't on his death bed. Paul had an aortic aneryisum that ruptured. The good was that it was fast. The bad was there were vital affairs that were not in order.

Jeff's sister called and asked that we get up there as soon as possible and we started getting things in order. We arranged for my two girls to stay with their dad and then Jeff's two were to stay with my family while we were gone.

On the way to take my two girls to their dad, it was raining. I cam around a sharp turn and lost control of our van. It started to fishtail and all I could do was pray. The van flipped up a hill on the roof and then rolled down landing on the driver's side. Three of the windows had shattered and the windshield was smashed. As soon as I noticed the rear window was broken I looked around and realized I couldn't find one of the girls. She hadn't put her seatbelt on when I told her to, so when we crashed, she was flung around the inside of the van. The blessing is two fold, we had had the playpen in the van and it was near where Britt was sitting. We found the playpen about 15-20 feet away from the van out teh back window. The other was had Brittany been wearing her seat belt it was just a lap belt and when the van flipped it could have broken her back. Brittany had the least injury of only one bruise on her back. Praise the Lord.

Me and Kimmie were both wearing our seatbelts and in the front. At impact the seatbelts let go. Both of us hit the roof and were josseled around. Kimmie's window was one that had shattered. She had a bad headache for awhile, but is okay. I suffered a mild concusion and bumps and bruises.

The point of the whole matter is that God is great! Friends of ours and the emergancy crews that worked the scene were shocked we weren't injured seriously. I gave glory to God from the first moment.

After the wreck we were able to go to the funeral thanks to some godly people that rented a car for us and some money that was donated for the trip. While we were in Ohio we got a few things squared away and know that there will be more to take care of.

The best thing that happened while we were there was teh confirmation of the hope that Jeff's dad was indeed saved. The minister shared how on Sunday, the day before he died, that Jeff's dad drove out to the church and sat in the pew during the service. He had no clue how he got there and had no clue what he was doing there. But he was there and he was glad to be there in the house og the Lord. Bill, the minister went on to say that there is no way he could fathom a man doing that unless he knew the Lord. So while we will not know until we oursleves get to heaven, it gives us the hope.

We have learned to trust in God even more than we already do. He is awesome and he will provide. We are out the family vehicle and will need to look into getting a new one. Unfortunately we only had liability on the van, so everything is out of our pocket. We know that God will providethe means for us to replace our vehicle and we know that it will be in His time.

While the Lord does protect His children, please remember that we should do as the law requires and take care of our health. The Lord will take the foolish man home before the wise man, for the wise man will do His work.

posted by the Johnson Family at 4:24 PM