Taylor Tragedy

Last night I woke up sometime around 3:30 to see a strange blinking light reflected on the wall. I wearily crawled out of bed and got closer to see that it was my cell phone indicating a voice message. It was Tim who had called about 1:00 am, which would have been 4:00 am his time.

"I'm sure you know what's been going on at Taylor," the message started "I'm OK. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Of course, I immediately panicked. I'm in Santa Barbara -- what was going on at Taylor? I pulled up the Taylor website on my trusty laptop (my two colleagues are so very glad I'm in a room by myself).

There was a horrific semi/van crash on I-69. A van carrying 5 Taylor students and 5 employees were headed back to campus after being in Ft. Wayne setting up for a recognition banquet at the Ft. Wayne Taylor campus. Apparently a semi going north crossed the median and hit the van head on. 4 students and one dining hall employee were killed. Two others were airlifted to a hospital in Ft. Wayne.

No names were given in the Taylor report -- it was just a paragraph on their site with a note that more details would be coming. I googled Taylor University Van Crash and immediately was able to pull up a bit more of the story in the Indy Star and the Marion papers.

Going back to sleep was a near impossibiity. I lay in bed, wide eyed -- praying for the families of the students -- for their friends -- and for the Taylor family. One of the boys killed was a senior -- in Tim's class. The new president of Taylor was to be inaugurated on Saturday -- it was a time of celebration....graduation is in three weeks....

Oh God! The questions pour out of us. Why did you allow this? What is going on? How come? What are we to learn?

I've not yet actually talked to Tim. He called when I was lecturing but didn't leave a message. I called him earlier this morning, and then after I saw he had tried to return my call. I need to know how he is doing.

I e-mailed Torrey and told her about it -- my e-mail crossed in cyberspace with hers sending me the article from the Indy Star that was an update.

What an incredible tragedy.

I'm glad I've just recently finished reading Don Piper's book, "90 Minutes in Heaven." If you haven't read it -- do. It will be so comforting.

Meanwhile, I'd just like to hold all my children and my husband close.

We just never know when God may be calling us home.