My heart breaks for this family

Here is the prayer request that I sent everyone in our life group yesterday after getting home from the race track-

I have a prayer request. There was a really bad accident at the race track today. A man named Paul Whisenhunt wasn't able to stop his car, no one knows why (he has some health problems that might have contributed to the accident) and his car just kept going until the creek bed at the end of the track stopped it.



Freddie raced right after him and was one of the first on the scene even before the ambulance got there.

Paul is not in good shape with head and internal injuries. He is in CCU right now. Please pray for this family and the other racers as they try to comfort and support this family.

We have been racing a lot of years and this just doesn't happen, hardly ever. We need your prayers.

We found out just a little bit ago that Paul did not survive the injuries from this wreck. 

http://bigcountryhomepage.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=380227

http://www.abilenedragstrip.com/

Please continue to pray for this family.  There is lots of speculation, even from doctors, that a heart attack or other health problems may have caused this accident. We may never know what caused the accident, but we know it was just that - an accident. 

Luke was having such a fun first weekend of racing and it got cut short.  He didn't understand the severity of the wreck.  We have seen wrecks before, although not many, but always the driver walks away.  He wanted to keep racing. 

But last night after listening to all the racers talk about how bad this wreck was, he couldn't sleep.  We talked about how God is in control, about how we are not promised tomorrow, and about how sometimes there isn't an explanation for why things happen.  It isn't our job to know why.  And we prayed and prayed. 

First thing this morning, Luke wanted to know if we had heard anything from the hospital.  We hadn't. 

So, I dread going to pick him up tonight.  Death is such a hard thing to explain to a child.  It is so hard for them to understand.  Luke didn't know Paul, neither did I.  Freddie knew him as a business associate and fellow racer.  Luke just knows that someone participating in a sport that he loves, got hurt really bad yesterday.  I pray that we have the right words to comfort him and that will help him sleep tonight. 

Luke and I have started running at the track near our house several nights a week.  We love this time to get outside when it is cooler.  Luke wants to run to get faster and I just need the exercise.  But we talk when we go, a lot.  We talk about all kinds of things.  I plan to go run tonight, if nothing else, we can talk and run until we are exhausted and maybe both of us will sleep good. 

I know that Freddie and I are judged a lot when it comes to participating in drag racing.  People always ask me how I can watch and be supportive of something so dangerous.  My response has always been that drag racing is not reckless or irresponsbile.  It is a sport.  People get hurt doing all kinds of sports, little leaguers get hit in the head with a baseball, football players get paralyzed, and the list goes on and on.  So we participate in the sport that we love in a controlled enviroment, and trust that God is in complete control of our lives. 

Luke is not scared to go racing again.  In fact, he can't wait to go again.  Freddie is not scared to go racing again.  I am sure we will go again soon.  Luke is very sad to know that someone got hurt so bad and he will soon find out that person has died. 

Pray for us.