Fall is a time of year where odd and unexpected weather events occur. Forecasters for a time predicted six plus inches of snow in Denver yesterday for the first day of fall. Many places are experiencing near 90 degree weather. In the deep south, particularly Georgia, there has been an inundation of rain and, consequently, flooding. So far, nine people have died in these floods. None of these deaths was more tragic than the one that occurred early Monday morning. 39-year-old Seydi Burciaga had ended her night shift at Sam's Club and was trying to get to the home in her Austell, Georgia, subdivision. A creek normally a few feet wide had severely overrun its banks, covered the road, and swept her into trees behind an elementary school. She was on the phone with a 911 operator for 12 minutes, enough time for rescue workers to get to the scene but not enough time to find her and her minivan. Not long after daybreak, waters receded and they found her in the backseat of the submerged vehicle. She had died 500 yards from her house, where her husband and two children slept.
Words cannot describe the frustration, heartache, and tragedy felt not only by those who knew and loved her, but those who tried to help her and others who have heard about this. If she had died 5,000 miles from home, it would not have lessened the pain felt by loved ones mourning her. Yet, there is something especially hard to swallow about one getting so close to home and never making it.
Some statements in scripture are heartbreaking to me. "You are not far from the kingdom" (Mark 12:34). "You almost persuade me to be a Christian" (Acts 26:28). "For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them" (2 Peter 2:21). "Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God" (Hebrews 12:15). "Give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away" (Hebrews 2:1). "Not far." "Almost." "Turn from." "Fall short." "Drift away." These describe a greater tragedy than physical drowning. They constitute warnings about having heaven in one's grasp, only to let it slip away. It is tragic for anyone to be lost, but especially when one is so close! Let us be sure that we are "in Him," and let us be sure we stay "in Him."
Words cannot describe the frustration, heartache, and tragedy felt not only by those who knew and loved her, but those who tried to help her and others who have heard about this. If she had died 5,000 miles from home, it would not have lessened the pain felt by loved ones mourning her. Yet, there is something especially hard to swallow about one getting so close to home and never making it.
Some statements in scripture are heartbreaking to me. "You are not far from the kingdom" (Mark 12:34). "You almost persuade me to be a Christian" (Acts 26:28). "For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them" (2 Peter 2:21). "Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God" (Hebrews 12:15). "Give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away" (Hebrews 2:1). "Not far." "Almost." "Turn from." "Fall short." "Drift away." These describe a greater tragedy than physical drowning. They constitute warnings about having heaven in one's grasp, only to let it slip away. It is tragic for anyone to be lost, but especially when one is so close! Let us be sure that we are "in Him," and let us be sure we stay "in Him."
-- Neal Pollard
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