Easter is such a wonderful holiday to celebrate Jesus!!!! It's the celebration that us Christians need to ramp up! It's because of this holiday that we can be born again!!!! At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus! At Easter, we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus!!!! It all comes in a full circle if you are a believer in Him!
Thursday night, we headed for the cabin and we were so excited to spend a long weekend there with some family. Of course, it was a quick stop at Cava (our favorite right now) for a bite to eat and then we hit the road for three hours north! We arrived safe and sound and got our cooler of foods in the refrigerator and our snacks unloaded in the snack drawer! Cabin weekends are just our favorite! We've not been up since Christmas so it felt good to drive in the long lane and breathe in the mountain air!
We slept in a bit Friday morning and ate breakfast that mom cooked up for us! Something that I love about the cabin is that our phone service isn't great inside the cabin and it's the perfect way to just unplug while we are there! But after breakfast, my sister called and asked if we heard any updates about the Rollman's. I told her that I didn't know anything happened to the Rollman family from church. We know Brad and Mimy well and their children. They both serve on our worship team at church. They ran the children's ministry for years in Sunday School. Our children are the same ages. What happened?
She went on say that they were in a terrible car accident on their way to Myrtle Beach for a family vacation. Only three hours away, they were suddenly hit by a truck from behind as they drove down the highway. The hit sent them flying off road into trees and woods. Carson, their 13 year old son, was ejected from the vehicle and died on the scene. Annika, their 10 year old daughter, was in serious condition with head injuries. Brad, Mimy, Alea and Alyssa crawled out of their wrecked vehicle. It all happened so fast. They didn't find Carson right away and it wasn't long before emergency personnel showed up to take Annika off to a nearby hospital. Some of the Rollman's went to one hospital while some went to another. Carson died. Annika's injuries were too severe to do surgery. Brad and Mimy decided to donate any organs from her if they could to help other children in need. Only a few hours, while being on life support, Annika went to be with Jesus also.
We were devastated to hear this news. I immediately told Jody that I needed to get phone service to check messages and media to hear more details. Of course, after getting phone service I had missed calls from church pleading people to pray for the family! The whole thing was just so sad!!!!
Carson and Annika died the same day that we were celebrating Jesus death on the cross. What a privilege to share this same anniversary for them in heaven!!!! I can only imagine how heaven rejoices to have these two children in heaven! Carson was such a funny guy! I remembered seeing him at church just a week ago with bleached tipped hair and I thought to myself, "What cool parents Brad and Mimy are! Allowing their funny teenage do this is just fun!" Now, so quick he's gone from this earth. Annika fought for life but didn't last long. The hit was too severe. Annika was a sweet girl. She would follow her mom around and help with any Sunday School things. She was cute, had a smile on her face and lived a good, short life! We will miss these children so much at church!
Reflecting on the death of Jesus and constantly thinking about the Rollman's, the song Because He Lives I Can Face Tomorrow ran through my mind. Truly this is true!!!!
Thank you Jesus for dying for my sins and resurrecting three days later to give me life eternal!
We spent our days at the cabin praying for the Rollman family. We took rides through the woods. The kids played ball with cousins.
