I don’t know if it’s the first thing since the accident that took his daughter’s life or not, but Steven Curtis Chapman went on Larry King Live (of all places) with his family and he’s written an editorial for cnn.com.
Go watch the video (But don’t make the mistake I did of doing so at work. Men aren’t supposed to cry at their desks.) and learn how it happened and how their family got through it, well at least this far. I was seriously impressed how the Will’s older brother instinctively took care of him after the accident. Also, take note of how Will addresses Larry King, even as Larry asks him about the hardest day of his young life.
The article talks little of that day, instead it’s a call for all of us Christians to support orphans. Steven notes “Through all that we’ve experienced, one thing we still know is true: God’s heart is for the orphan.” The Chapman’s have 3 adopted daughters form China in addition to their 3 birth children. What’s interesting is the role their birth daughter, then 12, played in getting them to adopt:
Nine years ago, my wife and my eldest daughter, Emily, traveled to Haiti on a mission trip. Having been exposed to extreme poverty for the first time, Emily returned home with a determined passion to make a difference in the lives of at-risk children.
Only 12 years old, Emily went on an all-out campaign to persuade us to adopt. She bought a book on international adoption with her Christmas money and would read it to us regularly. She began fervently praying and writing letters to Mary Beth and me, encouraging us to consider giving a waiting child a home. Emily knew God was leading us in the direction of adoption; however, Mary Beth and I were not yet convinced.
People wonder where God is in events like this. I do too, and I have no answers to that age old question, but one thing I do see. God was in that family. When tragedy happens to families focused on God, God is revealed. Seeing their family cling to one another and support each other and to hear Steven speak out still passionately for adoption shows the impact that God had on their lives. They were in a unique position to display God to many folks through this tragedy, and they have. Did God target them because of that? I don’t know and would say not. None the less, they targeted God to be honored through it, even if they can’t say what His role was in it.
HT: Brant’s Blog of Awesomeness
Doug,
I’ve never lost a child and I can’t imagine it, I have lost my best friend my mom suddenly and I know exactly where God was during that time because I heard Him. He sent me whispers in my son’s room from her. He gave me her hand on my face when I was ready to drop to my knees in the pain. He gave a door opening and a gust of air when we were speaking of her to the lady at the funeral home. There was a blackout in the city that she came from and two clocks stopped at her home at the same time as the blackout.
God knew I needed my mom to be shown to me. He knew that I needed to know that she didn’t die alone because He was there. My dad and I were the last ones to speak to her. I ended as always with I love you.
Where is God?
He’s right next to you.
He’s that whisper in your ear from little girls at bed time.
I saw part of there testimony on a morning show. Very inspiring stuff and still hard to imagine.