Funeral of a trucker

After to listening to Truckerdoc's radio show from last Saturday with my cousin Lyndon (lenutt) as her guest I was reminded of something that happened to me shortly after I was ordained some thirty years ago. About two in the morning a police officer and funeral director came to the rectory to ask me to accompany them to the home of a long distance trucker who had been killed on the highway to inform his wife and family of the tragedy. The trucker's wife and children were members of my church and although he was not a member he used to attend with the family when he was in town.

As you can imagine, breaking that kind of news to anyone is rough, but when you see your priest, a police officer and a funeral director, you're pretty certain the news isn't going to be good. The widow handled herself well considering the circumstances and we had the funeral a couple of days later. But it did remind me of just how close we can come to death each day of our lives and to live each day as fully as possible. I'd say that goes double for you guys out on the road as well as the police, highway patrol, military and other service oriented professionals who try to keep us safe. Over the years I have buried too many people who died giving their lives for the safety of others. My consolation is is that God has a warm welcome for them at the heavenly banquet.

May God keep all of you safe out there!

Category Posted: General