A family tragedy had me questioning God – Matthew 21:1-11, Part 2

Editor’s Note: This week at Faith Church we welcomed one of my current students, Molly Stouffer, as guest preacher. Molly is from Hagerstown, MD, studying Pastoral Ministries at Lancaster Bible College. Here is the second in her series of posts guest blogging her Palm Sunday sermon!

“God please don’t let her die.” 

These were the words I screamed out as I drove to the scene of my mother’s car accident. Just an hour before, I sat with my mom at her job and ate with her. We shared a delicious meal I cooked. My father was in DC for work, and so dinner was on me. I decided to cook and bring it to her at work. After our meal, my mom had to work late to fill out her health insurance for the coming year. In a way, I can only explain as a ‘gut feeling’ that my mother decided to upgrade our healthcare to obtain better coverage.

As it was a cold November evening, I drove her to her car in the staff parking lot. She gathered her stuff from my car, said a quick “love ya” and got in her car. I proceeded to drive home. As I pulled into my driveway I received an anonymous call from a local number. I answer to exchange a dialogue that still haunts me

”Is this Molly Stouffer?”

”Yes”

”Your mother has been in a car accident”

”Is she okay?”

”You just need to come”

”Is she alive?”

”You just need to come”

…and then the woman on the line hung up. As I drove to the scene, I screamed at God to let what I thought needed to happen, well, to happen. I didn’t want my mom to die. I didn’t want to lose her. I couldn’t imagine living life without her.

She was flown to a trauma center in Baltimore Maryland, where due to restrictions, I could not visit because I was 17. My father worked during the day and spent the evenings overnight with her. I spent the holidays bouncing from house to house, sleeping in guest room beds.

I couldn’t see God’s plan for all of this. Tune in tomorrow to hear how God’s plan, amidst this chaos, was better than my own.

Photo by Molly Blackbird on Unsplash

Published by joelkime

I love my wife, Michelle, and our four kids and two daughters-in-law. I serve at Faith Church and love our church family. I teach a course online from time to time, and in my free time I love to read and exercise, especially running,

One thought on “A family tragedy had me questioning God – Matthew 21:1-11, Part 2

Leave a comment