Oh, the places you'll go

You never know where life is going to take you.

Even though we know this, it still seems to surprise us when we or others end up in places we never expected.

I got thinking about this yesterday when I got an alumni newsletter from my high school. In it was news about a couple that I knew. He was a friend of my brother, and they were boyfriend-girlfriend through many years of high school and then married during college. They were one of those beautiful couples, she especially lovely. The type that seem like life will probably be charmed for both of them. I knew he was a youth pastor now and that they had a few kids. What I hadn't yet heard was about where life has taken them.

Last year their oldest child, a little girl who is now 6, was in a car accident. She got a spinal cord injury which has left her paralyzed from the waist down.

Oh, the places you'll go.

This couple also has a 3 year old and a 7 month old. I was thinking that there is a strong chance that the wife was pregnant with the baby when her oldest child got so badly injured, because of the time frame involved.

Can you imagine going through something like this? The difficulties of pregnancy, the grief and fear and worry for your oldest child, plus a toddler at home to take care of as well?

Life can change in the blink of an eye. Are we ever ready?