There is a saying, “Life Goes On.” And that’s the truth.

But every now and then, something happens that stops us dead in our tracks. Something happens that makes nothing else matter for a little while. That’s the painful truth, too.

This past weekend, our town suffered one of those world-stopping moments and great losses when three of our young adults lost their lives in an automobile accident. It stopped many of us dead in our tracks. For some time, nothing else mattered and that was okay.

For a while, it didn’t matter if one is a Democrat or Republican, black or white, rich or poor, young or old, or any of the other ways we choose to divide ourselves up.

What was going on in Washington or Egypt would just have to take a back seat to more important things. Let it rain and rain some more. The games people play somehow didn’t matter.

When the news comes that your friends are in a greater need than you, not only has their world stopped turning, yours doesn’t seem to move either. Except in their direction and the question becomes how quickly can you get to their side.

It’s not that you have the perfect words of comfort. There are no such words. You find that out when you see and feel and want to say something, but nothing comes out. But, you keep on moving toward your friends and find that the unspoken, wrapping around of arms says it all.

To be stopped dead in our tracks doesn’t mean that we are stopped from doing things. It only means that many of those things we do because of habit, even perceived necessity, we find are not absolutely necessary. When we are stopped dead in our tracks, our actions have a greater sense of priority.

The name God seems to be first One we call and it is more of a cry than a call. “Help!”

Family rises to the top also and not just the immediate family, although folks with strong and loving, immediate families seem to get through these world-stopping times better.

The Family of faith makes these unbearable times bearable. Denominations disappear so that the prayers of the faithful are not spoken to the Baptist God or the Methodist God. And even those who don’t have any kind of “church” God pray for those whose world has stopped.

As painful as it is, I don’t think it’s a bad thing for our world to stop sometimes. I don’t mean that tragedies are to be welcomed. That’s a foolish thought, but I mean that it’s a good thing when we realize that we are not just “me and mine,” but rather, on this journey called life, together.

We spend way too much time letting “life go on” and using that as an excuse for not loving and living as we should.

Someone said, “Something good has to come from this horrible thing that has happened.” It has and will.

I promise, the wheels will turn again, but if just for a moment our world stops and we take the time to love; that’s a good thing.