They played
basketball together in highschool and regional tournaments. And,
for some years
after they’d established themselves in their careers and were raising families,
they still got together for friendly old-guy games.
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TVRA-South-East-boys. Highschool successors 2.5 decades later.
Credit: hometownplay.ca
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Eventually
they got wise, as their aching knees told them it was time to quit their
favourite sport – after all, they’d soon be entering their middle-age years.
Instead, they made an annual pilgrimage into the USA for a concert, since they
shared a common liking for a particular artist.
They used to
ride down on motorcycles. One of the group’s families owned a Harley Davidson
dealership, and those buddies who no longer owned a bike would rent one for the
weekend. In more recent years they’d travel in a couple of trucks.
A month or so ago two of those friends and their families got together to celebrate one of
the youngsters’ birthdays. The boy’s dad was an avid Harley owner. It was an
enjoyable time by the pool with family and friends.
Three
mornings later my wife’s mobile sounded. It was a text message. “Good Morning .
. . Last night was not a good night. . . .” It went on to say that Brent was
killed in the early evening, near Belmont, Ontario, and that his fellow biker
was in a London hospital with life-threatening injuries.
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Credit: Courtesy of CTV.
One bike seems partly under the other & partly in the ditch.
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These biking buds were devastatingly struck
while riding their motor-cycles—Brent on his beloved Harley. As of my writing
the full story has not been given in the media, but it appears that an SUV coming
from the opposite direction, suddenly, without warning, made a left turn and plowed
into both riders.
A tiny moment in time. Fractions of a second. Mere
metres. The difference between life and death for one man, and for the other
the difference between prime-of-life strength and serious injury, possibly with
life-altering effects. A tiny moment spelling the difference for both men:
between a welcome home and supper together with spouses and kids, and
heartbreaking tragedy.
Our son Chris
and his wife and family were the friends who hosted Brent’s youngest son’s
eleventh birthday celebration only two days before that fatal accident. They
grieve the loss of their friend and grieve for his wife and children. They will
surely be concerned about the injured motorcyclist and his family. I grieve
too. And I pray—even for the driver of that SUV.
The biblical
scriptures say that after death we are to give account to God (see Hebrews
9:27). We may not know just when or how our appointment with death will come.
However:
We
have this moment.
It only takes
a tiny moment to invest our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son our
Saviour, and to apply to our hearts and lives the sacrifice He made in our
behalf to purchase our redemption. The Saviour says,
“. . . whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has
eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life” (John
5:24 NIV2011).
A
tiny moment . . . an eternal difference!
~~+~~
2 comments:
I hope the biker was saved, Peter. The veil between this life and the next is of gossamer. The timing-no one knows.
I don't know whether he was practicing the faith his family was associated with, in recent times. The Lord knows those who are His. However his wife, when visiting friends, was shown the article in a copy of the paper (although I think they live just outside the paper's distribution range). She contacted my son and obtained my contact information and wrote me a lovely, gracious note.
She is forgiving and prayerful - even toward the person responsible for causing the accident!
A visit is planned for her to visit with us. ~~+~~
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