Challenge Accepted

Hi friends :) It's been a while. Probably more than a while but who's counting? I started out this blog with high hopes and good intentions which were slowly replaced with lack of ideas and, well, life. I won't go into all of the details...mostly because there are no details. Just.Life.  How long I will continue this time around will wait to be found out, but with a "threat" from my daughter that she would delete me from her blog lists that she reads, I figured it was high time to blog something so I'm not deleted! ;-) Thanks, Alix, for the motivation.



The more recent motivation started this week. A tough blow was dealt upon our community and our local high school where my youngest daughter goes to school. Byron Nelson High School is a very new school. In fact, this year will have it's first ever full graduating senior class. My daughter is a junior and her class will be the first class to go from freshman year to senior year all the way through, that's how new the school is. ( yes, I'm aware I just ended that sentence with a preposition. sorry, english people :P) With the last 6 weeks of school upon them, BNHS was faced with a tragic loss. They lost one of their seniors in a car accident on Saturday. Josh Hernandez and his twin brother Jesse Hernandez were on their way back from Wichita Falls after watching the BNHS girls soccer team win their regional game and advance to state this coming weekend. It was an exciting win and the brothers were there supporting their school. On the way home, circumstances that still remain unclear led to a one car accident in which Josh lost his life. Jesse had minor injuries and was released from hospital. But as word quickly spread the loss was felt throughout the school, student body and community. As a parent, it's your worst nightmare, losing a child in a tragic car accident. As a student, you see your friend one minute leaving happy after a soccer game and the next minute he's gone. It left our family with heavy hearts and it left me in a continual state of reflecting on my own life.

Through various ways (mostly Facebook) we were able to find out more about Josh. It turns out he was a varsity basketball player and had won a prestigious Byron Nelson award for.... Beyond the positiveness of being a star athlete he was able undoubtedly remembered as a strong, christian guy who loved God with all of his heart and shared it with others through his positive attitude and humility.  Almost immediately the student body adopted the phrase "livelikeJosh" because he was that kind of an example and leader within their school. Of course we wonder why "livelikeJosh" wasn't adopted while he was alive. He obviously lived a life worthy of eternity in heaven but it takes him losing his life to truly see why he was the example most should follow.

A memorial service was quickly planned for Sunday evening, just one day after the accident. The entire gymnasium was packed with students who were there grieving the loss of a fellow classmate and looking for answers as to "why" and "how do we go on"? As individuals we tend to feel more secure and accepted in our grief when we are around peers so it was a good thing to open up the school for the students to go to in their time of hurt. My husband and I drove past the school as the service was going on and were stunned and in awe that the parking lot of this huge, new high school was full. It brought tears to my eyes immediately. And that's when all of the reflecting on my own life began.

I'm sure that over the next days, weeks, months I will delve deeper into the impact that Josh's life/death has had on me and my family and we didn't even know him or his family personally. It's the example of the life he lead while here and the legacy of hope and love in Christ that is resulting because of his death that has us all examining our own hearts and lives. Would my Christ in my life impact and affect people in such a way that their immediate thought of me would be one of God? Would they know that I love God with my whole heart and strive every day to be an example of Him? Would it be obvious? I don't care if people would fill an entire gymnasium on my behalf but I hope that God is using my life to impact others for eternity. At this moment in my life, I'm not sure I can say "yes" without hesitation.

So that's where I'm at this week in my life. Reflecting. And hopefully making a positive turning point.

Until my next blogging whim...

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