His family had been very involved in the church. Well, the family passed the test. Even the pastor's elder son, the one who, years before, had heard God's call to ministry but, till now, had never answered. The shock became the precipitant to a change of direction - an end to one career and the beginning of another. As much as anything, that shock began the journey that finds its way to this pulpit today.
Shocks can go either way.
So saying, there is more to this text than the comfort of knowing that our Lord is not put off by any shocks. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth. The picture is drawn from the massive engineering efforts of ancient Babylon. Straight new roads, not those old roads that are content to follow the terrain. For the ancients, this was a theological statement - nothing must be allowed to impede or delay the coming of God.