Every Moment Matters

First published in The Daily Sentinel, Friday, June 27, 2008

David Jones was in a hurry. He was running late to pick up his daughter, and he did not want her to wait any longer than necessary. He’d come all the way from Louisiana to Plano, Texas (a suburb of Dallas) to get her from his ex-wife.

Driving down the six-lane street last Sunday morning, the traffic was light. It was easy for David to nudge the accelerator past the 40-mile-per-hour posted speed limit. He weaved between cars, going faster and faster as his urgency drove him. “Gotta get my girl. Gotta get my girl” raced through his mind as he raced the car down the road.

No one knows how fast David was going when he approached a major intersection around ten minutes before 11 a.m. [UPDATE: Dallas Morning News reported he was traveling at 98 mph] But the light turned red, and David couldn’t stop. There were cars in two of the three lanes going his direction already stopped for the light. He swerved to avoid them, but lost control of his rented Pontiac. The car bounced up the curb of the median, struck a fire hydrant and went airborne.

The intersection in which David lost control of his car was Custer Road. Custer Road United Methodist Church sits less than half a mile from that intersection. It was my family’s home church before moving to Ohio six years ago. CRUMC is a large congregation – almost 2000 people participate in worship on average every weekend – with four worship services.

The middle service ended around 10:30 a.m., and the Hart family was headed home after being at the church since 8 a.m. to attend both Sunday school and worship. Geoff and Christy Hart, their 12-year-old daughter Rebekah, and two foster children were in the family van. They stopped for the light behind another car. When it turned green, they went behind the first car into the intersection.

All five of their lives ended a few seconds later when David Jones’ airborne Pontiac slammed through the Hart’s van’s side windows and sent the van rolling. Witnesses were horrified by what just happened. Milton and Tonya Mize were interviewed by the Dallas newspaper, and Milton said, “It was kind of like out of a movie – a minivan flying at you, end over end.”

Tonya Mize turned to her children and said, “Close your eyes; don’t look!”

Milton, however, was trained in emergency response, so he got out of the car to see what could be done. He was not alone. In the midst of that horrifying event, he witnessed numerous acts of compassion. “It was beautiful. The amount of people gathered, asking, ‘Can I help?’ And people started praying, and people started acting.”

Another witness, Michelle Armour, was one of the helpers. She rushed over to one of the young girls who were foster daughters of the Harts. The violence of the collision threw the girl from the van even though she had been wearing a seatbelt. “We turned her around and started doing CPR. We were praying over her.”

David Jones did not die in the accident, but he was life-lighted to a local hospital and remains in critical condition. He never did make it to pick up his daughter.

This tragic story carries enough drama by itself; but it has an even more personal impact on me and my family. The Harts were our good friends. Geoff and Christy were members of the same Sunday school class that we were. We were there to celebrate Rebekah’s birth. Our two younger kids stayed with the Harts when my wife and I enjoyed a week together in Chicago.

Even after moving to Ohio, we stayed in touch. The Hart’s annual Christmas letter was a “must-read” for the Wood family. The Harts were incredibly other-oriented in everything they did. Christy worked part time at the church handling logistics for youth mission trips and choir tours. Geoff was a board member of Juntos Servimos, a non-profit organization that organizes mission trips to Mexican border communities. Geoff also went on at least one mission trip every year to help provide food, healthcare, education and housing to those who otherwise would not have any of those basic necessities of life. On her last birthday, Rebekah asked that instead of presents, she wanted her friends to make things for the local animal shelter instead.

In tragedies involving families like the Harts, it’s easy to cast judgment against people like David Jones. His self-centered thoughtlessness was directly responsible for the accident that cost five innocent people their lives. It’s easy to get angry, to want justice, to want retribution.

But can any of us really determine what is just in this situation? David’s own life may soon be over. The natural consequences of his actions have already punished him severely. I do not know him, but I can put myself into his situation. I’ve been late to retrieve a child before. I’ve pushed my speed beyond the legal limits at times. I’ve even run a couple of red lights. No, I am not qualified to judge David Jones or anyone else in this ordeal.

Jesus said in John 8:7: “If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone.” Can anyone of us throw that stone at David? No.

What you and I can do is learn (or better, RE-LEARN) an incredibly important lesson: every moment matters. We never know when our lives may be over. I am sure the Harts were expecting decades more of love, laughter and life. Their foster daughters, Raven Lucas (five years old) and Kevinnesha Palmer (six) had only lived with them since March. Those girls were experiencing a stable, loving home life for the first time in their lives. They didn’t expect it to end. Up to their last moment, the Harts lived every moment to the fullest.

David Jones got caught up in the moment, as well. But he forgot that EVERY moment matters. The only moment that mattered to him was when he arrived to pick up his daughter; but the moment he lost control of his car, the moment with his daughter never arrived.

Michelle Armour expressed the truth: “It’s like every day is your last. I don’t think I am ever going to forget this day.”

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “God has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity into the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

I pray that you will take each moment of eternity that God gives you, and make it matter!