I talked to Aaron this morning, and he told me that he was on his way out the door to email me some photos that a friend of his from his Mobile Assault Platoon had emailed to him. He told me they were pictures from Iraq and that some of them were of his Hummer after it was attacked.
Several years ago, when I was still in college, Ryan was in a really bad car accident on the two-lane road out to our house. His truck left the road and broke several small pine trees in half before it stopped. The truck was destroyed, and one of the pine trees fell down and knocked Ryan's left hand rearview mirror off a few seconds after the crash, when Ryan could have been trying to get out of the truck. It would have killed him. But he wasn't out of the truck yet. I remember that when I heard about that, I thought I was going to throw up. I think the little details of things sometimes frighten me more than the big picture. Ryan was in this horrible crash and survived it, and that's the big picture. But the thought of how close he was to being crushed by a tree after the impact gave me this sickening feeling of inertia, like on fair rides, like the world had stopped moving and I was still flying forward. I haven't had very many moments like that in my life, and I'm thankful. But I think it's in those moments when I have most realized how very much God has protected me and my family at every turn, both in the big picture and in the small details. And in a strange way, after the initial sickenss of those moments, I have been less afraid. I think if I could see God's hold on my life that clearly all the time, I would live my life much more boldly. But we only get glimpses.
Looking at these photos was one of those glimpses.

Aaron in Iraq. Isn't he all rugged and unshaved looking?

Aaron's Hummer after the explosion. Obviously, the driver's seat, where Aaron was, is the one you see.