I had this familiar dream last night. One where I’m on a roller coaster and it’s clacking to the top of the first hill, my knuckles are white from gripping the safety bar in front of me. I am beginning to hyperventilate from my inability to see the course ahead when I wake up panting. But not this time. This time as I was clacking to the top I could see the course that lay ahead. I looked down to see the onlookers, those too afraid to experience this life, those who would rather watch, those who before now stand in the place I would have preferred. But not this time. This time J.T.’s spirit has consumed me. His excitement for this life, always the first to try and the first to succeed, the one who encouraged and inspired. His zest for life apparently contagious because this time I sat in the front row, here in my new found freedom, with a head full of dreams, precious pieces of the past tucked safely in my pocket and my arms held up high. I will take the ride for the experience, for the opportunity to learn something, and for the example it sets. When the ride ends and I rush back to the entrance to do it again, this time I will grab the hands of the onlookers and encourage them to ride along.


If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.
Martin Luther King, Jr.


It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.
Alan Cohen

One day an old man was walking along the beach in the early morning and noticed the tide had washed thousands of starfish up on the shore. Up ahead in the distance he spotted a boy who appeared to be gathering up the starfish and one by one tossing them back into the ocean.

He approached the boy and asked him why he spent so much energy doing what seemed to be a waste of time.

The boy replied, "If these starfish are left out here like this they will bake in the sun, and by this afternoon they will all be dead."

The old man gazed out as far as he could see and responded, "But, there must be hundreds of miles of beach and thousands of starfish. You can't possibly rescue all of them. What difference is throwing a few back going to make anyway?"

The boy then held up the starfish he had in his hand and replied, "It's sure going to make a lot of difference to this one!"

pravsworld.com

How can this continue to happen? I approached this week with a sense of hope and while my hope sits flickering in the background my sense of urgency has come center stage due to the deaths of 8 year old Lane McCloud and now 3 year old Andrew Bahl. It’s an all to familiar and infuriating case of a Yamaha Rhino Roll over. The story follows:




3-year-old Lancaster boy dies in accident
By Craig Reber

NORTH LANCASTER, Wis. — A 3-year-old rural Lancaster boy died Sunday in a utility vehicle rollover on private property.

Andrew M. Bahl, 3, was riding with his father, Bradley J. Bahl, 29, 10933 Grant County K, who was operating a Yamaha Rhino, a utility terrain vehicle around 11:26 a.m. The vehicle rolled over, pinning Andrew.

Andrew was taken to Grant Regional Health Center and later airlifted to University of Wisconsin Hospitals in Madison where he was pronounced dead. Bradley Bahl, who was taken to UW-Hospitals, suffered a broken leg.

http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=213657

My heart is saddened this morning to receive the news that Lane McCloud age 8 died this past weekend in a Rhino roll over. Their story is so similar to ours and prayers for the family are continuous.



Texas boy dies in Rhino rollover
August 18th, 2008 by Wendi Lewis



A Texas boy, Michael McCloud, age 8, died over the weekend when he was thrown from a Yamaha Rhino when it rolled over. He was a passenger on the vehicle, driven by 12-year-old Kinsey McCloud, also of Richardson, Texas. The accident took place in McClain County, Oklahoma. It is unclear if or how the two youngsters are related.
Also involved in the Yamaha Rhino rollover accident was Sue Harrison, 59, of Lindsey, Oklahoma. It was reported that Kinsey was making a sharp turn late Saturday afternoon when the vehicle overturned, ejecting both passengers. Michael suffered massive trauma and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a report in the Tulsa World...
http://www.yamaha-rhino-lawyer.com/news ... -rollover/

Two of my closest friends are people that I have never set eyes on. It is our unfortunate circumstances that threw us together in this world. Circumstances I think we would all agree that we would give up everyone we know or everything we have to reverse. They too have lost a child, Ellie. Recently Ellie’s Mom sent me a beautiful e- mail about her daughter that explained what happened to her. She was a wonderfully vibrant and loving little girl with a kind spirit and open heart that reminds me so of J.T. Her e-mail follows:




Heidi,
Ellie was a beautiful 10-yr old blonde-haired blue eyed girl who absolutely loved
life. Ellie had many passions, she loved tennis, horseback riding, dancing,
dirt biking, hiking, reading the Bible to older folks, playing with her girlfriends,
Cousins, brothers and of course, playing with her baby sister. Ellie reached out
and grabbed life and always "figured out a way” to make happen what she wanted to
make happen. We miss her vibrance and zest for living very much On October 27,
2007 Ellie was at a friend's house and went for a ride on a Yamaha, Rhino. Ellie
was the passenger and was buckled in. The Rhino was being driven at a normal speed
on a completely flat field. The driver went to make a turn when for no reason the
Rhino tipped on Ellie and pinned her to the ground crushing her. She was air-cared
to the hospital where we were told she would not survive. In memory of Ellie's kind
and loving way we chose to donate her organs to other children who needed her help!

It is our belief that this vehicle is poorly designed and should never have tipped
over. It is narrow, too high off the ground, and top heavy and the seat belts do
not hold a child in. The seat belts hold you from going forward not going side ways.
This tragedy should have never happened to our family. What was once a happy
family of seven (7) is now a downtrodden family of (6).
www.yamaha-rhino-information.com