Life Is Too Short...

With mixed emotions, I write this post:
So many things I want to say, but I don't want to be too wordy.

Life is so strange.
One minute you're having a nice evening, walking in the cool evening, and then your cell phone rings.
Tragic news.
One of Clay's best friends from High School -- Ken Ashlock -- was killed yesterday in a car accident.
Apparently, he and 2 other men were returning home from work early in the morning and the guy who was driving fell asleep at the wheel.
Ken and another passenger were killed instantly when their truck hit a tree. The driver sustained minor injuries.

I don't know which one I'm sadder for... Ken and those he's left behind (wife & children, brothers, friends) or the man who will have to live the rest of his life with the guilt of this senseless accident.

Clay left this morning to start the 10 hour drive to Abilene, Texas to attend the funeral.

Even though we haven't been in contact with Ken on a regular basis these past few years, he is memorable figure in our marriage. Right after Clay and I were married, Ken and his wife, Dawnette came to visit and it was a wonderful & crazy visit! Ken was such a character... It's funny; just the other day, Clay was telling our daughters a "Ken story" of the time when they dared Ken to shave his head into a mohawk (Keep in mind, this was the early 80's).
Then there's the time that Ken climbed over the fence at the zoo and taunted a 500 pound tiger through the bars... I've never seen a man jump back so fast!

And I'll never forget the one about Ken... Well, you get the picture.

It's very sad around here tonight.
Go hug the ones you love and call the friends you haven't talked to in awhile.
Life is too short not to.

NEXT!

Two weeks ago, I started Leadership Class at HPC and it has been phenomenal! It's only the 3rd week and I feel like I have learned so much already. A lot of it is not necessarily a revelation of things I didn't *know* so much as it's helping me to see them more clearly
It has been a very revealing class for me, personally. I am seeing major areas in my personal walk that I really need to work on!

Today, they talked about NEXT-LEVEL LEADERSHIP and I have enough notes for 10 blog posts -- it was so great!
Ann Morrow spoke to us about how we can be content, but not be satisfied, and this is a good thing! We should always be seeking to improve -- always asking Jesus to take us to the next level, spiritually.
No matter what "season" your life is in right now, learn to embrace it and seek to learn all you can from it -- whether the circumstances are good or bad. Embrace it with joy and without complaining; otherwise, you will not learn anything and you'll never move to the next level. This makes a lot of sense to me.

Often, life can hit us with circumstances that we never dreamed or imagined... and we often don't have a say in how things play out. But when we don't have control over the EXTERNAL, we do have control over the INTERNAL: Our response to what we are going through.
We can either choose to remain in the "victim" mode and kvetch and complain
OR
we can choose to accept the lessons and training that being caught in such a situation affords us.
If we choose to learn from it, there is a good chance that somewhere down the line, we will find that we are better equipped to handle another situation better, because of what we learned from this one. That may be hard to believe in life's toughest moments...
It's difficult to see the beauty in our darkest hour until another challenge illuminates the positive change in us.

So, will you stay where you are, or are you ready to move forward?