A Sad Afternoon

Late yesterday afternoon the kids wanted to take our Labrador down to the river for a swim. Kevin was out during the afternoon but had said he would come down when he got finished if we were not home. For any that know our lab she is very fat and lazy so it was a feat in itself just to get her to walk down to the river. We crossed the bridge where we only saw maybe 7 people hanging out and then proceeded back even further where we knew that Sierra could swim. We were only back there about 30 min. and decided that Sierra had had enough and was getting tired. From a distance I could see about 20 people standing on the bridge and wondered why so many people were there. As we started going across the bridge Justin turned around and said Daddy is down in the water. I looked and sure enough he was swimming in the water and diving down. I was wondering what in the world he was doing swimming in this cold water when he had a really bad head cold/cough. By now, there were even more people standing over on the side. Justin ran over to find out what was going on and came back and reported to me that a young man around 18 years old had drowned and that daddy was looking for the body. When Kevin had arrived some young boys ran up to him and asked if he knew how to swim because their friend had just drowned. One of the friends had dove in to save his friend but hit his head on a rock and split it open. By the time Kevin had gotten there the young man had all ready been under about 15 min. Kevin dove again and again but couldn't find him. The water is at least 15 or more feet deep and with the current there was just no way to know where the body was. As I left the river I felt so helpless and sad. It must have happened right after we passed the bridge the first time. If we had not have had our dog we would have stayed in this spot for a while before moving on. What if I had been there when it had happened? Would I have been able to save this life? Then I thought about this boys family and in particular his mother and how they would be hearing this news soon and how much this was going to change their lives forever. Life can be so short and you just never know when yours is about to end. For this one boy he just went down to the river to hang out with his friends and probably drink some beer(that is what they usually do) and he ended up not going home. More than likely he wasn't a Christian either. Time is short and we need to make the most of every opportunity that we have to share the hope of Jesus with those around us before it is too late. Pray for this family and the friends as they deal with this loss of life. Pray for us as we deal with the "what if's?"