Josh is an avid AM Radio listener, so instead of our usual Christian music station, I tuned in AM Talk Radio. The hot topic was Tony Stuart's fatal crash into competitor Kevin Ward, Jr.
Let me preface what I'm about to write with this:
My heart completely hurts for Mr. Ward's family, for his friends, for Tony Stuart, and those who saw the accident. I'm not God, and I don't know what happened. We can only put pieces together of the puzzle and make assumptions based on facts. It's completely unfair to place blame and assume Tony was a hot head, and intentionally hit Mr. Ward. It's also unfair to call the deceased an idiot who deserved it. Based on what I've heard on talk radio, most are blaming Tony and saying he did it on purpose.
Secondly, there are rules set in place for the competitors. One of which being--DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CAR! Unless you are given the all clear or you're about to burn up inside the vehicle, you do not leave because your safety depends on it!
So we were driving and listening to talk radio. Evan, was of course, listening and asking questions. What ensued was a life lesson. Some time ago, Evan and I memorized Proverbs 25:28, which says:
Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.
We explained to Evan that when we do not have control over our emotions, it can cost us our life (or someone else's life). We must learn to control our emotions if we want to live a righteous life.
The King James version states it this way: He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down,and without walls.
The facts are that Mr. Ward should not have exited his car. He should have shown restraint, and because he didn't, it (the lack of restraint of confronting Tony) cost him his life. Had he stayed in the car, he would have almost certainly beyond a shadow of a doubt survived.
Likewise, if Tony indeed didn't have self-control of his temper (and purposely hit Mr. Ward), it cost the life of another human. I wholeheartedly pray, and believe, this is not the case.
My whole point in writing this is not to place blame on Mr. Ward or Mr. Stuart, but to rather point parents to the fact that we owe it to the Lord and our children to not only teach self-control, but to model it. Life's lessons can be learned on talk radio, or elsewhere. We do not need Biblical text books or curriculum to teach. We can use real life.
My sincerest prayers go to the Ward family and to Tony Stuart.
