The Other Side of the Mountain

Whenever I am ill, there is one film I have to watch. It is one of those movies that leaves you sobbing to the point where you don't want anyone to see you because you've got snot dripping from your nose, tears streaming down your swollen eyes and pajamas on at 3 in the afternoon. The movie that leaves me in this state is called The Other Side of the Mountain.

The Other Side of the Mountain is the true story of Jill Kinmont, an Olympic hopeful who was left paralyzed after skiing off a cliff during a race. There is a scene in the beginning of the movie where Jill is lying on the floor of a ski cabin having a slumber party with her teammates. She and her best friend have spent the entire day riding fresh powder, flirting with handsome boys and enjoying life. As Jill reflects on her day, she tells her best friend that she wonders if she is using up all of her luck. Everything in her life is perfect and she has never had to deal with a huge loss or heartache. She is a gorgeous, young, talented skier and everything seems to work in her favor. Mid-sentence, she realizes that her best friend has a severe fever and needs to go to the emergency room. Later, it is revealed that the best friend has polio.

From that point on, Jill's life spirals downward.

I watch this movie and think, "This is so incredibly sad; thank goodness that will never happen to me." Then I wake up one morning, drive into town to do a food buy and get a call from my mom saying my brother was killed in a motorcycle accident. I hurt and I cry and I wonder why God would allow this to happen to a 24-year-old man with so much life in him. But my days carry on and even though it hurts knowing he is gone, I praise God that something like that will never happen again.

Then six months pass and I get hit by a car on my bike. My life is turned upside down and I have to start fresh. I don't know what I'm doing and I never truly feel satisfied with my new jobs, but I know that God has a plan and that life will work out and thank goodness I still have my family and my friends.

A year passes and my best friend since childhood and I make plans to see each other over the holiday weekend. Life is good. I can't wait to see her and hear about her babies and her husband. Then my mom calls me to tell me she was life flighted to the hospital and has no brain function. The doctors performed brain surgery, but she is not responding to stimuli and she cannot breath on her own.

This girl, this gorgeous girl who was homecoming queen and one of the sweetest, most genuine women around. The girl who wanted to start an orphanage in Mexico and surf every day. My very best friend with whom I spent every single day of high school. We laughed, we surfed, we loved, we cried, we dieted, we played volleyball, we got fat off of guacamole chips and mangoes. Lauren was my world growing up. She was that girl who everyone loved and wanted to be friends with, but she chose me to be her closest friend.

I even remember when she got engaged to Jayson and I was sad because suddenly I wasn't the most important person in her life. But I watched her grow with Jayson and I cheered her on as her dreams changed and she became a mother of two beautiful children. She was my encourager when I gave up my goal of being a surfing journalist to be a professional triathlete.

Distance kept us apart, but she was still my "Honey". When I thought of my wedding day years from now, she was still standing next to me in a bridesmaid dress. In my future, we were still getting together for play dates with our kids, watching them eat sand while we talked about the silly things our husbands did and the adventures we hoped to have one day.

I guess the take away from this is to never lose touch with the ones you love. Appreciate them every single day, even when life gets busy. You may be laughing over a cup of coffee with them one morning and sitting by their side in the hospital the next. Both Matt and Lauren were too young to have something this tragic happen to them. It was totally unexpected. My heart breaks for them and their families and for myself. Parents shouldn't have to bury their son. A husband in his 20's shouldn't have to worry if his wife will make it through the night.

Life isn't fair. There is no way of knowing what will happen next. Just because everything seems alright, doesn't mean a storm isn't brewing. All I know is that God doesn't cause bad things to happen, but He does do miracles. Maybe Lauren will not live. Maybe she will live but will "never be our same Lauren" as her mom said to me over the phone the night of the accident. BUT I do believe that God will bring goodness out of this situation. I also believe that the memory of Lauren will stay strong in the ones who know her.

Please pray for Lauren and her family.

From Jayson:
  Lauren continues to rest and is surrounded by the whole family. Our dear sweet girl took a bad spill and sustained a very serious head injury on Saturday. She is capable of breathing on her own, but that is about as extensive as her brain stem activity gets right now. The rest of her brain is shut down. The conflict is that she has made small improvements the last two days (something for which we are praising Jesus), but the brain injury butts heads with that. Medically, the outlook remains grim, however, we continue to call on the One who is bigger than medical outlooks. We are all amazed by the sheer number of people who are lifting her up in prayer and interceding on her behalf. The Word promises that where two or more are gathered in His name, there He is also. Well, that is blown right out of the water here. To anyone reading this message, make no mistake, what has happened to Lauren is not the will of God. Yahweh does not want this for our precious girl any more than any of us. We live in a world where death - the enemy of God - runs rampant. The promise that we cling to in this time is that our Savior has defeated death and it no longer has a sting. Now, what IS the Father's will is that good will come from this evil situation, as we are already seeing. Please keep praying, friends. Know this: prayer has the power to change reality. Remember Moses in Exodus 32 - he interceded on behalf of Israel when God was ready to wipe them out and God relented. Again, He has not "done this to Lauren," but He has the power to rescue her from this horrendous situation - one which she absolutely does not deserve. Keep the faith, take care of yourselves and each other, and be at peace, brothers and sisters, for that is exactly what Lauren would want us all to do. Much love.