IN MEMORY of Jody… a young construction worker, unknown to me, who died in Mississippi on Tuesday. (As he lay unconscious during the last hours of his life …hidden from him was the awareness of the depth of compassion felt for him…by strangers.) Hidden, too, from the family of the young man is the continuing depth of compassion felt for them…by strangers.
Jody, thirty-two, was working at the Naval Air Station, Meridian, Mississippi. He finished his shift on Monday afternoon, climbed in his truck and headed home on a rain slicked highway. A friend/co-worker traveling just behind saw the Dodge truck hydroplane, quickly spin off the road…and land with the driver’s side smashed against a large tree. My son, also Jody’s co-worker, was the second vehicle behind. Both drivers rushed to the crumpled truck and grievously realized the extent of the young
Carousel Pony stands at attention near the Entrance of the Meridian Naval air Station, Mississippi
man’s injuries. The first driver used his cell phone to dial the crash victim’s sister and the sibblings spoke briefly. Rescue workers arrived and my son was in the truck with the young man…consoling, encouraging, giving hope… for part of the hour it took to free him from the wreckage. The accident victim was transported to the nearest hospital…then med-flighted to one equipped for severe trauma patients. Surgery was done the next morning But.. Jody died from the severe injuries….a few hours later.
I didn’t know the young man. Just after the accident…our son called and grievously shared his heart-felt emotion and compassion for what had happened barely more than an hour earlier. And our hearts, like his, were heavy. How did it happen that this particular young man came to be employed with the particular company….be working at the particular job site…at this particular time…at the end of his life??? How did it happen that my son was employed with the same company…at the same job site…at this particular time…and was present with this young man …so near the end of his life??? I don’t know. But I have a guess.
Something much greater than coincidence guides our steps to paths of higher meaning. I know my son. And since the young man’s family wasn’t present at the scene of the accident, my son’s sensitive and compassionate heart…stood in their place and genuinely and openly grieved with him during what was likely one of the most heartbreaking times in the young man’s life. And the death of this special young man has been a lightning bolt of a reminder for me…that I should carefully CHOOSE each word and action used in fellowship with another human being. My words and actions could be the last he/she experiences. He/she deserves that those words and actions be of the God-kind…merciful, kind, and filled with continuing forgiveness.
The family of the young man will likely never know the depth of compassion felt for them…by strangers. And as the young man lay unconscious during the last hours of his life …he was not aware of the depth of compassion felt for him…by strangers. He and his family will never know how silence overtook us when our son called to tell us the tragic outcome of Monday’s accident. HIDDEN THINGS. SO MANY THINGS ARE HIDDEN FROM US….BUT THEY ARE NOT HIDDEN FROM THE HEART OF GOD.
