This is the fourth installment of my “Remember you will die” series of real-life scenarios to remind us of the brevity of our lives, and to be prepared for its inevitable, often seemingly premature, end. More details about my perspective and intentions can be found on the August 26th post.

Besides the unusual circumstances of the event, what makes this tragedy unique is the victim’s mother’s response. It is a sad story, nonetheless, about how unexpected circumstances like weather and a train can in an instant alter the lives of so many people.

NEWS ITEM: It was on the night of January 14, 2015, when a prison transport vehicle carrying 15 men skidded off a Texas highway overpass and plunged into the path of a moving Union Pacific freight train. After the collision, the bus was dragged for about 200 yards along the tracks, leaving it a crumpled mass alongside the tracks before coming to a stop near Penwell, just west of Odessa. The prisoners did not have seat belts and were handcuffed together in pairs, officials said. Some of them were ejected from the bus after it struck the train.

Two long-time veteran prison department officers and eight inmates died from injuries suffered in the accident. “It’s as bad as you can imagine,” Odessa Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Kavin Tinney remarked. “In 32 years, it’s as bad as anything I’ve seen.” Officials later concluded that icy roads were to blame for the crash.

One of the victims, 29-year-old inmate Tyler Townsend had called his mother in Benbrook the night before. “I said, ‘Let’s pray for a safe journey. Call me Sunday night,’” Petra Townsend recalled when interviewed. “He said, ‘OK.’”  “I said, ‘I love you.’ He told me he loved me too, and that was it.”

She admitted that her son chose his own journey outside of the law early on, using drugs as a teenager. He went to prison twice before, for drugs and other crimes, including car theft, but managed to graduate from an alternative school, and even tried college. “I always believed he was going to change that path,” his mother told reporters. She felt that Tyler believed it, too. Sentenced to three years, Tyler had been denied an early release on Dec. 28, just a couple weeks before the accident.

A deeply religious woman, Mrs. Townsend said her son had recently been baptized in prison. She said her faith does not have room for laying blame for her son’s death. “That’s part of a plan we can’t understand. This is God’s business. This is God,” she repeated. “No, no, no. Don’t question.”

I am fairly certain that none of the men involved in this tragedy woke up that morning and expected to end up later that day in a morgue. Talk about bad timing – the weather, an icy overpass, the train schedule. But when it comes to death, what would be good timing? 

“The same destiny ultimately awaits everyone, whether righteous or wicked, good or bad” (Eccl. 9:2).