Donald Grey Barnhouse was driving his children to the funeral of their mother. A semitractor trailer truck crossed in front of them at an intersection, momentarily casting a shadow on the car, and Barnhouse asked his children, "Would you rather be struck by the semi or the shadow?" "The shadow, of course," they replied. "That's what has happened to us," said Barnhouse. "Mother's dying is only the shadow of death. The lost sinner is struck by the semi of death."