Choosing the road to life

It’s amazing how intuitive young kids are about their parents’ feelings. Early in 2015 my six-year-old daughter, Kitty, climbed into my lap when I was sitting alone silently. ‘Don’t worry Daddy, we’ll all see each other again in heaven.’

I was missing my son, Jordan.

On 8 December 2012, my wife Melissa and I were reflecting on how pleased we were with the young man Jordan had become.

The door buzzer interrupted us. It was the police. At 18, Jordan was dead.

He’d chosen to drive from Brisbane to the Gold Coast after a Christmas party. He was speeding and under the influence of alcohol and cannabis when he collided with a stationary vehicle. Four people in that car were killed, as was Jordan.

Life was a blur as we strove to be functional for Kitty and our elder daughter Montana.

In 2015, Kitty started school at St Andrews Lutheran College Tallebudgera. We sent her there because of its reputation – not its Christian values. The importance of those values would change the day Kitty reassured me with her pure faith.

She invited me to church. So, we walked into worship and into the loving arms of the Father who had never given up on us.

We’ve found a sense of peace and mission doing whatever we can to spare other families what Jordan’s victims’ families and our own have endured.

Since 2017, Melissa has shared with young people messages about love, family and choice in driving behaviours. In 2019, we founded YOU CHOOSE Youth Road Safety (www.youchooseyrs.org.au).

We’ve been blessed with opportunities to connect with young drivers. One life saved will be enough.

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