Accidents happen...for a reason.

I got a text from my brother tonight saying: I just got in an accident.

Foreboding, much?

My initial reaction was to have all sorts of horrible scenarios flood my mind. I immediately ruled out death because I figured, if he was dead then he wouldn't have sent me the text message in the first place (i know, my deductive reasoning is nothing short of amazing). After about 5 minutes of freaking out, I finally called him and asked him what happened. Apparently, a car that was slowing down and signaling right on the right lane decided to turn left just as my brother was trying to pass it. At 40 mph. Oy vey. He said that he was fine, a little shaken, but fine. And the other driver was fine, too. When asked I asked how our Toyota Sequoia was doing, all my brother could do was sigh and say, "Let's just say that there's a chunk missing."

My poor brother. I'm SO glad that he's ok. There was a brief moment where I considered the option of him not being ok and I almost cried. I praise God that the only thing damaged was the car--though the car is still a considerable problem on the financial side of things and my parents definitely need prayer about that. But it's interesting, isn't it? Christian or non-Christian, we almost always revert to casting aside the material things as rubbish when it comes to the life of someone we really love and care about. What if we thought this way about people, in general, on a regular basis? What would our lives be like?

Nothing can replace my brother. I'm kind of ashamed to admit that it took something like this to remind me of just how precious he is to me. Or how precious people are. What was it that Jesus said? "Love your neighbor as yourself?" The kind of love and affection I'm feeling now, that's the kind of love I need to have for everyone! Right?