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Hey Dad,

Two weeks ago, I wrote, "You never know what tomorrow holds." Little did I know that a few days later, my daughter Katherine (7) would be rolled through a large pair of double doors at midnight to have an emergency appendectomy performed on her ruptured appendix.

Katherine is doing great now, but it was a reminder to me about how quickly the family that we hold dear can be taken away … just like that. That's what happened to my friend Robert Rogers.

I first heard Robert's story on a local radio station and later wrote an article about him for a men's magazine. The memorable thing about Robert was that he loved, I mean really loved his wife and four children. He made sacrifices for them, played with them, and cherished his role as a dad. That's what makes his story so terrible and one that you must hear.

Actually, it all happened one year ago almost to the day. Robert and his family were on their way back from a wedding a couple of hours away from their Kansas home. There were torrential downpours, and they hit a stretch of flooded highway. They tried to inch their way through, but eventually their van swamped and died.

The kids were asleep in their car seats, and Robert assured his wife that everything would be okay. But to their horror, the water rose until it filled their van up to the steering wheel.

The kids awoke and screamed. They were terrified as the water reached their toes. Being a good dad, Robert prayed and led them in singing their favorite praise choruses. Then, the unbelievable happened.

According to eyewitnesses, a 7–foot wave slammed into the van, lifted it up, and pushed it across the highway and into a 30–foot gully. The van was under water. Quickly, Robert kicked out the driver's window to avoid drowning. Instantly, everything and everyone that wasn't buckled in was sucked out of the van and into the raging black river.

Miraculously, Robert survived, but over the next 24 hours, he was called to face the unbearable task of identifying the bodies of his wife and children.

"I miss so much being called Dad," Robert told me, "but I know that had I gone to heaven with my family, the story would be over. It would have been just a blip in the media. Now I have the opportunity to tell of God's faithfulness and encourage fathers to savor every moment … to make every day, every hug, every moment, sacred."

"I don't have any regrets," he says humbly to fellow dads. His desire is to make sure you, as a father, can one day say the same.

Dad, may Robert's story be heavy on your heart and aid you in choosing the best … today, because you may not get tomorrow.

You 'da dad! [Todd]

©Copyright Todd Wilson, 2004. Used by permission.

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