6 Years - Not How It Should Be

 “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”  Psalm 34:18

In these days, that promise feels like the only thing giving some parents hope. Today is July 11 and marks 6 years since Shawn Jr. left this earth, going from our arms into Jesus’. 

Sadly, you can’t open a news site without seeing fresh reminders of parents just beginning the same awful journey.  Over the July 4th weekend, torrential rain sent the Guadalupe River roaring through Camp Mystic, a century-old girls’ camp in the Texas Hill Country.  In less than an hour, the water rose almost 30 feet, engulfing cabins and sweeping away Mystic campers and counselors, including Hanna and Rebecca Lawrence (twin 8-year-old sisters from Dallas), 9-year-old Lila Bonner, little Eloise Peck, and 23 others.  These children are part of the devastating story of over 100 lives lost in the Texas floods.

No parent should ever have to utter the words “my child died.”  The natural rhythm of life runs the other way.  Children bury parents, parents don’t bury children.  When that order reverses, something inside us cries out that the universe is off-kilter.  I felt it on July 11, 2019, and I feel it again as I pray for the Camp Mystic families whose hearts were broken in an unexpected, single, tragic night.

No one can be sure if this tragedy could have been prevented, but adding to the grief is the gnawing possibility that these deaths might have been averted or mitigated.  Kerr County had no independent flood-warning siren system, even though officials had lobbied for one for nearly a decade.  Funding requests were denied; some neighbors worried the sirens would be “too loud.”  When the river surged, the first CodeRED alert went out roughly 90 minutes after firefighters begged for it, and that was long after the water had reached the cabins at Camp Mystic.

Preventable loss stings differently.  It’s the same lesson we preach every day at Helms Hope: prevention, diligence and early detection save lives.  In melanoma, a 5-minute skin check can mean the difference between life and death.

So here’s my plea, spoken through tears for Shawn Jr. and for every Camp Mystic girl who was lost:  (1) invest in warning systems - get an annual skin check and (2) listen when the alarm sounds - if you see something strange on your skin, go get it checked by a dermatologist.

Tonight, please hug your kids a little tighter.  Life’s rhythm is fragile.  Let’s do everything we can to keep it playing in the right order.