July 1, 2002
1972 bus wreck took 19 lives of Texas Baptists
___By Toby Druin
___Editor Emeritus
___Tragedy such as that experienced by Metro Church of Garland last week is a time to be "gracious and generous toward people, binding hearts together and turning to God, not for finding fault," according to a Texas Baptist pastor who has walked that road before.
___Jim Abington, former pastor of Woodlawn Baptist Church in Austin, offered his assessment the day after a bus wreck killed four of Metro Church's young people and the driver of the chartered bus and left dozens injured.
___In December 1972, Woodlawn Baptist Church lost 17 youth and two adults in a bus-truck collision on a narrow bridge near Fort Sumner, N.M. The Austin youth were en route to a ski and Bible conference.
___"My immediate response then was absolute shock," said Abington, who soon after the 1972 disaster left Woodlawn to start Bannockburn Baptist Church, where he has served 29 years.
___"Like the others there at Woodlawn at the time," he reflected, "I didn't know anything to do but turn to God. I still remember vividly the reaching-out spirit of people all over the area. Everyone was touched and brokenhearted about it.
___"We just said, 'Lord, we need you right now more than ever before. There was a conscious dependence on God to get us through it. And he did."
___Abington cautioned those closest to the Metro Church tragedy to be aware that they are living on an abnormal emotional plane right now and can say and do things they wouldn't normally say or do or make rash statements. They should realize the need to "go slowly" in their recovery, he said.
___Give emotions time to heal, he added. The high emotional level at Woodlawn immediately after the accident was followed by an emotional backlash that "took some time to work through, and it contributed to our starting Bannockburn," he said.
___Ron Hicks, minister of education at Woodlawn in 1972, lost his wife, Beverly, and their only child, 13-year-old Robin, in the 1972 wreck. He later moved on to Columbus Avenue Baptist Church in Waco, where he remarried and had two sons. After also serving at First Baptist Church of San Marcos, he returned to Woodlawn for three and a half years and now, though retired, is pastor of Staples Baptist Church near San Marcos.
___Coping with the loss of his family was difficult, he said, "but basically it came down to the big question of do you believe what you've been teaching and preaching, that God is there for the hard times as well as the good times."
___"Sometimes you may feel like Job, never receiving an answer but being comforted," Hicks said. "We have the Holy Spirit and his comfort and the hope and assurance that one day we will be with them. When I preach funeral sermons, I go back to the death of David's and Bathsheba's son, where David said he couldn't bring him back but that one day he could go to him.
___"I always use that as an encouragement, and I find it an encouragement myself. One day we will be reunited again, and there will be no more sickness or harm.
___"The Lord didn't promise us a rose garden," Hicks added. "It took me many years before I would realize in the middle of the day that I hadn't thought of Beverly and Robin. The Lord said there would be times of trial and testing, but he has seen me through them."
___Hicks urged friends and family members of the parents who lost children in the Metro Church tragedy to stay in touch with them.
___"It will be like a wound that has been wrapped up," he said. "When God begins removing the bandages, it will really hurt. They will need the comfort of Christian friends."
___"The best thing friends and family can do is be with them. Don't give them advice or ever say their hurt will pass, and never say you know how they feel. Let them talk about their loved ones and share memories with them."
___He suggested that friends write down special things they remember about the children and send them to the parents along with any photos they may have, especially any taken when the parents were not with them.
___Barry Chinn, pastor at Woodlawn Church since 1998, was an Austin resident at the time of the 1972 accident. His parents and two brothers were attending the church, and the brothers had signed up to go on the trip. However, when one broke his leg and couldn't go, the other decided not to go either.
___"That has affected me," Chinn said. "When I hear people say that God spared me or someone in my family, I don't know how to respond. Now that I am pastor of the church, I am pastor to people who lost friends. We enter into a realm of mystery of God and life and randomness that is both holy and mysterious."
___President Lyndon Johnson attended the memorial service at the church in early January 1973, Chinn noted. A memorial granite stone and stained glass window at the church mark the event.
___Chinn and Abington said there were lessons learned from the tragedy. In 1972, the church was using church buses for trips; now Bannockburn leases or charters vehicles and as best they can makes sure they are properly maintained and the drivers are the best available. Nonetheless, mistakes and accidents can happen with the best of preparation, he said.
___"We think it is very important for the church to pray for those going on trips," Chinn said. "That may sound almost like a cliché, but prayer times are very special. When we send people to different places on mission trips, we try to make it special in the worship service prior to their going. We ask the Lord for traveling mercies."
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