It was good and right that Paul Jorgensen chose Mother’s Day to share his story of fear, survival and the lessons learned that afternoon in the Hudson River. On a day devoted to family, faith and love, Paul’s message of walking away from the Miracle on the Hudson as a changed man rang true and sweet.

No doubt the 40 members of the Builders Sunday School Class went home from church and showered well-deserved blessings on moms of all ages. Paul’s message surely moved them to savor these all-too-fleeting moments of grace ever more sweetly.

I shared a bit of Paul’s story in the Cornerstone soon after US Airways 1549 crash-landed in the Hudson and everyone walked away. We’ll tell you more in the next issue of Intersection magazine coming soon. But I am enthralled by his take on the story, and knew that his Mother’s Day talk to the Builders would be rich with detail and meaning.

Paul, raised in our church, all but put us there with him in Seat 1A as he recounted the “very, very loud noise” of the bird and engine colliding. Within seconds, as the plane began falling toward earth, he was certain this was going to be the end. He thought about his wife, Meredith and their little Blake and Ryan, then said a final prayer and waited for the crash that would bring this beautiful life to an end.

We know otherwise, of course, and so does he.

This beautiful life continues, and Paul’s message to the class is to embrace every moment of it.

Paul couldn’t sleep for seven nights afterward, but is back resting comfortably. He has met with other survivors and chatted with the likes of Katie Couric and so many others who tapped into the hunger that all of us have these difficult days for a story with a happy ending. Dr. Phil even called the house. His work as a medical software salesman demands that he get back on planes, and so he has resumed his normal life of laptops, luggage and seats that are way too small for comfort.

But as he told the class on a Mother’s Day made lovelier by his sharing, all of it is good. It’s part of the normal life. But now there is no such thing as a normal life. It’s deeper, richer, fuller, for as he told the Builders Class on Mother’s Day, “I got a second chance.”