Scary Moments - Raising Teenagers

Last Saturday night I was talking to my son Sam via our cell phones. Nicole and I were picking him up from a friend's house, but when we arrived at the friend's house, he wasn't there. He was in the middle of telling me that he and his friends were on the way when his voice stopped. At first I thought the call had dropped, but I could hear background noise, and then I heard a teenage girl screaming. She was saying "he's unconscious, he's unconscious, wake up, wake him up". I could also hear Sam in the background saying "where's my phone, I lost my phone". At this point, Sam's phone disconnected. I tried calling him back, and didn't get an answer. While I was trying to call him, a call came in from a number I didn't recognize. The voice mail was Sam, crying, telling me he had lost his phone and to call him back. Then I realized what was going on. Sam and his friends had been in a car accident while I was on the phone with him.

I quickly called him back, made sure he told me he was okay, got his location and we drove as fast as I dared. When we got to the accident scene, the entire 4 lane street was blocked off and there were 2 firetrucks, 3 ambulances and a host of police cars. Sam's friend, the driver, was so wedged into the front seat that the firemen had to cut the top of his classic Camero off. As I stood with Sam and watched, I thanked God that it appeared that everyone was okay. It was a little disconcerting to see all the gurneys they had out. Sam had some minor lacerations on his forehead from windshield glass, but that was about it. It seems weird to me that after seeing how much damage was done to the car, I didn't hear the impact over the phone. What happened was that in mid-sentence, Sam's phone flew out of his hand during the impact and landed under the driver. He could hear me calling his name, but in the immediate confusion he couldn't find his phone.

Several hours later, (all four teenagers were taken by ambulance to the hospital), we left St. John's Emergency room. Cuts were bandaged, x-rays taken, instructions and best wishes given. We called Kathy to tell her we were on the way home. What a blessing to say "we're on the way home." Anything different than that would have had terrible consequences. "Thank you God, for your protection, and love. Where would we be without You?" Sam was shaken, and sore for a couple of days, but he's okay. "Thank you, Lord."