It was getting late when the phone rang. I thought it was probably just some telemarketer wanting us to buy their merchandise, so I ignored it. Just as the phone stopped ringing, I remembered that my brother had been at his girlfriend’s house watching a movie. I grabbed my cell phone and quickly turned it on in case it was him and he needed to get a hold of us. But then the home phone started ringing again.

“Hello?”

It was my brother. “Is mom there?”

“Hold on. She’s in bed, but I’ll get her. Are you okay?” I asked anxiously.

To my relief my brother said he was fine.

When my mom had finished talking to my brother, she told me that there had been an accident at the end of our road. Logan (my brother) had discovered it. As Logan passed the little country intersection, he had started to notice fast-food wrappers and cigarette cartons sprawled across the road and ditches. Then he saw the smashed, bent- up pile of metal that had once been a jeep. It had rolled over four or five times.

Logan thought the driver or passengers had already gone for help since he couldn’t see anyone inside the vehicle. He was wrong. A few minutes later he saw a man lying under the jeep between the front two tires.

The man died at the scene, but it wasn’t until later that we found out that he wasn’t alone. Logan didn’t see or hear the woman in the ditch. The police found her soon after they arrived. She was unconscious and in critical condition. This whole thing happened because they were out drinking.

God gave us these bodies as temples to serve, worship, and thank him for everything he has done for us. The people in the jeep were in their 40s and knew they shouldn’t be drinking and driving. But they made that choice—the wrong choice. What resulted because of that choice? One person dead—never to live again. One in critical condition—she may never get better. Friends and families worrying about one person, while mourning the other. My brother always remembering the horrific scene of death.

Did you know just in 2006, an estimated 17,602 people died in alcohol-related traffic crashes—an average of one every 30 minutes? About three in every ten Ameri-cans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some time in their lives. In 2005, 39 percent of fatal crashes (all age groups) involved alcohol.*

I thanked God over and over that night that Logan hadn’t been in front of or behind that jeep. He could have been killed or injured as well. My cousin was about 18 years old when he was hit and killed by a drunk driver 22 years ago. I never had the opportunity to meet my cousin. I never even saw him—all because of a few drinks.