Today Mark began his sermon (Taste and See: The Lord is Good!) on Psalm 34 by asking a question: Have you ever had a "close call"? The kind of experience where if one small detail would have been different, someone would have been seriously hurt or even killed?
My mind instantly flashed back to last summer. It was the last week of camp and I had caught a fever. All night I had been lying on the couch crying because of my discomfort and exhaustion. I went up to bed around 9:30. A few hours later my dad came into my room and woke me up. He said that Reagan, my best friend in the world, had been in a car crash and was headed to the hospital with her sister. All I knew at the time was that Reagan seemed to be alright, but they weren't sure about her sister.
Immediately I broke down. I began crying and praying out to God for their safety. A million things flashed through my mind during that time, but mainly the fact that they needed to be okay.
Reagan and her sister had been taking the highway on their way home when an ambulance began to merge into their lane. The ambulance did not use its turning signal and therefore took Reagan off guard. In an attempt to not get hit, her car ended up flipping one and a half times, landing upside down on the median.
Later Reagan informed me that she had only received some soreness in her back and Paige made it out with a cut above her eye and a broken nose.
Now that was a close call.
Remembering that night brought back the tears and emotions that I had felt that night, and more. Since the accident, I had attempted to help Reagan heal from it and listened as she talked about it, but I had not thought through it myself.
Reagan has been my best friend for a few years now. We have laughed together, cried together, learned together, grown together, struggled together, listened to Regina Spektor together, driven together, bowled together, sang together, worshiped together, read together, watched movies together, and so on. On the outside, some may see our friendship as sarcastic, funny, random, or crazy, but what they may not see is that there is so much more. Reagan and I have grown so much in our faith because of the encouragement we have received from one another. We feel comfortable sharing everything with each other, and know that the other will listen, understand, advise, and pray. Reagan has been there for me through more of the pain, struggles, joy, and over comings in my life than anyone else has. She has loved me no matter what, encouraged me at the perfect times, listened to me when I needed, prayed with me, and more. Her house has become my house and her family has become my family.
Rethinking the car crash showed me how absolutely thankful I am for her. I am thankful that God blessed me with such a godly best friend who has an incredible love for others. I am thankful that He spared her and her sister that night, because without her, I don't know how I would have made it through freshman year. I could always talk to her when I felt alone, I could always tell her the things I didn't trust other people with, I could always count on her not to judge me but to advise me, I could count on her to sporadically encourage me, and I know she prayed for me a lot this year.
Today, I'm reminded of a blessing- one of the biggest blessings that God has given me in my life.
God, thank you for Reagan Mallory Kelley.
