On February 2nd, Patrick Madrid and his wife Nancy were driving through a fairly busy part of the city. There were office buildings on every block, people crowding the sidewalks, and a healthy dose of traffic. Patrick was stopped at a red light, one car between his vehicle and the intersection. To his left, there was a young man crossing the street from one side to the other, walking along the street perpendicular to the one Patrick was on. As he crossed, a car from Patrick’s right entered the intersection to make a left, and as it turned, it struck the man. At the last minute, he turned and yelled out, but was thrown into the air, end over end. He landed beside the car on the pavement.
Within 15 seconds, Patrick was on the phone with a 911 operator. A crowd of people rushed to the man’s aid as Patrick explained the situation to emergency services. After he hung up, he pulled out of the way to let traffic through. Because of the crowd of people and the driver’s car, it was hard to see the aftermath, but eventually, the man sat up and Patrick even saw him talking. The man survived, but the extent of his injuries is not known.
After getting home, Patrick said he almost immediately went to tweet about it but stopped himself. He wanted to sit and think about it, ponder what he just witnessed. In less than a second, so much happened in that intersection. In less than a second, the life of that driver changed forever, maybe not physically, but mentally. In less than a second, the life of that pedestrian changed, physically, and perhaps mentally as well. What kind of intuitions did they and the witnesses glean from that experience?
For one thing, as Patrick pondered, life can change in the blink of an eye. There’s no way that either person involved woke up that morning knowing that they were going to be involved in an accident like this. How does one prepare for an accident, serious injury, or even death? What if the man had died? The driver would have been charged with vehicular manslaughter. That man would leave a void in this world for his family, his friends, his significant other, his coworkers, anybody whose life he had touched. And what of his soul? Was he ready to meet God? Was he prepared to be judged?
And on the other hand, what a blessing that it turned out the way it did. Thank God the driver was going the speed limit, that the man saw the car at the last minute, and that there were so many people to make sure he was all right. And what a positive outlook the driver and pedestrian must have on life now.
The driver, assuming this was accidental, is probably so thankful that the man is all right and that the worst she’ll probably face is a fine and payment for any medical expenses. Her life could have been drastically different had she killed him or committed additional traffic violations in the process. And the man is probably thanking God constantly that the car wasn’t going any faster than it was. Hopefully, he has a much more positive outlook on life because look how easily it can be taken away.
“It’s a great reminder in a very grim sort of way to always be ready, always have your life in order, always be prayed up, always be in the state of grace, always be prepared to go. I don’t want to dwell on that in any morbid way, not for myself or for anyone else, but it’s just common sense.”
Listen to the whole segment below:
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