lessons taught in traffic jams

I think that God is trying to teach me something but I'm not sure what it is. I went to work out today during my lunch break. Then when I was finished I went to the bank and then to the grocery store to buy some bread. After going to the grocery store I was going to go home and back to work. I was trying to make a left hand turn onto Telegraph when a police officer parked his car in the middle of the road and told me that I could not make a left hand turn. So I turned right. I started to go down the road and was trying to figure out where I could turn around, then I saw a ton of police cars blocking the way and lots more coming. I couldn't figure out what was going on. So I kept going, unable to turn around and was eventually stopped...because of traffic. Then coming down on the other side of the road was a large procession of fire trucks. There were people on the side of the road...so after sitting there for a while I asked some lady what was going on. The man with her said, "Don't you ever read the paper?" I told them sorry, I didn't read the paper that regularly. So the lady told me that a fire fighter had been killed and this was his funeral procession. I had no idea. But I guess I was thinking it was something like that. I sat there on Telegraph for about 30 minutes and then was able to move and turn around and start my journey back home. I then decided I should read the papers and find out what had really happened. Well, there was nothing in the papers that I had gotten that weekend about the fire fighter (who was a Chief, I found that out from a sign at a car wash that said "Chief Buehne, We will miss you) who was killed in St. Louis.

However I did read about a story in Brookfield, WI that my mom had told me about on Sunday. Some man was going to his church that was being held at a hotel and opened fire and killed seven people including himself. The pastor and his son were among two that were killed. You can read more about this story here.

So anyway, I did some looking around the St. Louis Post Dispatch website and this is what I found. I guess the Chief was a Lutheran and his service was at Faith Lutheran...the church up the road from us that we do ministry with sometimes. He was killed in a car accident on Thursday. So I think that there is a lesson in all of this for me but I'm not sure what it is. Here's the article from the Post-Dispatch website for those who are interested. Have a great day and SERVE the LORD with gladness.

Affton fire chief laid to rest
By Heather Ratcliffe
Of the Post-Dispatch
03/14/2005

Jerry Buehne, the Affton fire chief killed in a car crash last week, was remembered today as a role model, someone who wanted to make a difference and did. Joe Culp, a colleague of Buehne in the Affton Fire Protection District, told a crowded Faith Lutheran Church in Oakville that Buehne was someone he looked up to not only for his career but for his life."He put everything he had into everything he did," Culp said. "He was a helper. He was a doer."Buehne died Thursday when his vehicle was struck by a driver that police say was fleeing after being suspected of shoplifting. The other driver in the crash, Claudex Simmons, has been charged with a number of crimes including second-degree murder and armed criminal action. Following today's service in Oakville, a funeral process more than three and a half miles long, including more than 60 pieces of fire equipment, wound its way to Resurrection Cemetery in Affton on a route that went through the Affton firehouse. Along the route, hundreds of area residents parked and waited for the procession to go by.The church was packed with hundreds of area firefighters in their dress uniforms. Included among them was Buehne's son, Tim, an Affton firefighter, who reached out to touch his father's casket with his white dress gloves. Fire personnel saluted the casket as it was brought inside.Pastor John Brunette told the crowd that Buehne had said to his wife he wanted to make a difference, Looking around the church, Brunette said Buehne's impact was obvious in the love shown not only from his family but from his brothers in the fire service. From St. Louis Post-Dispatch on the web.