I did it...

I often think about Christ in the Garden of Gesthamene. He stayed and prayed even though he knew the morning light would bring the guards to come arrest him and put him through a heinous death.

I think about the heroes of September 11th who barreled up tall staircases into burning buildings.

We never know what is inside of us until it is put through the fire. Mark Twain wrote that a virtue untested is no virtue at all.

And though I'm not anything compared to real heroes, I made quite the accomplishment this week. At 10:24 am on Monday 12/13, I received a panicked call from my wife tell me that she had been in a car accident.

In seven years of marriage I've been training myself for this moment. I did it! The first words out of my mouth were "Are you okay?" NOT - "How is the car?"

Yes, our 91 Saturn Coupe is gone - you can see the gruesome pictures here: http://www.wideopenwest.com/~readpray/carwreck.html

But it really hit me this week. It's one of those "duh" statements (Like "How are you?" instead of "How is the car?"), but life is precious. It was a beautiful thing to realize at Christmas. I feel like running down the street yelling, "Merry Christmas, movie house! Merry Christmas, Emporium! Merry Christmas, you wonderful old Building and Loan!" ("Zuzu!") Christmas really isn't about the presents and decorations and *groan* the insane lines at Wal-Mart. We're going into this Christmas with very little thanks to this accident. But strangely I don't mind. I know what is most important. She's laying next to me right now.

So why am I wasting our time writing? :)