Safe Journey

As you all know, Jumble was involved in a bus accident with her band last October. Her woodwind instructor and friend, Heather Christensen, was killed after attempting to steer the bus to safety. While the bus still crashed, and many of the students were injured, there is no doubt that Heather succeeded in saving the lives of every other person on the bus. It's been three and a half months and we are still trying to feel back to normal around here. Jumble has really had a hard time with anxiety and depression since the accident. She's doing better now, most days! And most days, I think we are going to make it through this.

This experience has definitely been life-changing for her, as well as for me and for Niles. It has been a time of extreme gratitude, but also a time of intense grief. I am grateful for the things we learn from our experiences in life, even though the learning can sometimes be very painful. I've had these thoughts running through my head frequently over the past few months, and have finally succeeded in writing them down in sort of a poem. I'm not sure I'm finished with it yet. But I thought I would share it anyway. It's just a little piece of my testimony that has been strengthened because of this experience.


Safe Journey

Veterans honored
Through music and marching
Traveling home
A busload of musicians
Unaware
Every soul is in peril
No Direction
Life in the Balance
As the driver slumps unconscious
Over the wheel
And the bus leaves the safety of the road




One teacher...
Sees the danger
Without hesitation
Grabs the wheel and
Provides Direction
Steers the bus safely
Between dangerous Lava Rock Outcroppings on one side,
A Deep Ravine on the other
The bus comes to rest on its side
Her life freely given to save so many others

Later that night
I lie awake by my child's hospital bed
Bruised lung, broken heart, but still with us
I ponder about the one
Who stepped up to the wheel
The spirit whispers words into my mind:
"Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13)
Love and Gratitude fill my heart
There are no words. . .
I cannot tell how I feel
When I think of the one
Who loved enough to give her life
for one so dear to me

My heart turns...
We are all on a journey
Traveling home
Me and everyone I care for
And billions I don't even know
Sometimes Unaware
Every soul is in peril
In Need of Direction
Eternal Life in the Balance
As we all make choices
That take us from the safety of the path



Our Savior
Knows the Danger
Without hesitation
Rescues us
Guides us safely
Between temptation, sin, despair on one side;
Grief, illness, poverty, pain, depression and death on the other
The Atonement Accomplished
His Life Freely Given to Save us All
I ponder about the Son of God
Who said, "Here am I, Send Me"
The spirit whispers words into my mind
"I am the way, the truth, and the life:
No man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6)
Love and Gratitude fill my heart
There are no words...
I cannot tell how I feel
When I think of the One
Who Loved enough to suffer and give His life
For me
For those I love
For all mankind