The phone rings or the tires screech—a moment in time that changes time.
The Steven Curtis Chapman family faced such a moment yesterday. It is not a new story as many families have walked through a similar dark valley. However, familiar as the story may be the heart is exposed afresh to the almost unimaginable pain of losing a child.
The Chapman’s five year old daughter Maria was hit by a vehicle driven by her brother in the driveway of their home. She died. Life changed.
Stephen Curtis Chapman is a bright light in the Christian music world. His songs of faith and family have touched the hearts of millions around the world. The Chapman family is an example to many by their advocacy for adoption. They are not mere spokesmen for the cause as they themselves have adopted three children.
Fox News quotes from Chapman’s web-site: "After our first trip to China, my wife and I knew our lives were changing — our eyes and hearts were opening to how big God really is, and we have wanted to experience more of that." "We've really wondered whether or not we should just go to China and stay there. But I don't think so. I believe God is saying, 'I want you to go, get your heart broken, your eyes opened, and then take this story back to the church in America and around the world."'
The Chapman family will be reminded again and again in the grief that lies ahead of “how big God really is…” Only a big God can bring redeeming—Christ-honoring comfort to hearts shattered.
One of Chapman’s most popular recent songs is titled, “Cinderella.” We know the song well as our daughters have sung it many times and have asked me to dance with them as it plays.
“There's a ball at the castle
And I've been invited
And I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?"
So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone...”
You can listen to a Fox News Radio interview with Chapman about this song at www.foxnews.com.
Life is brief and precious. When Steven Curtis Chapman wrote about the clock striking midnight and Cinderella being gone—he was thinking in terms of a child growing up, getting married and moving on to begin her new family.
Yet, as so many parents know, ---sometimes the clock strikes midnight and it is not to mark a new adventure in their child’s earthly life but it signals that the hour of death has come. It has come in a moment. It has been announced by one knocking at the door, calling on the phone or by the bed-side as breath evaporates.
As Christians we do not grieve as those who have no hope. The sovereignty of God brings comfort that allows us to say “…Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15). Death still casts a foreboding shadow and fills our hearts with grief and our eyes with tears. But we have a Shepherd who carries us through the valley of the Shadow of death so that death has no final victory because God is with us.
It has been said “Death is not welcome to nature, though by it we pass out of this world into glory.” Death for a Christian is a bridge to the Celestial City where Christ awaits.
For the Chapman family their big God will be their comfort. Pray for them and for other families that you know who know who have walked this dark valley.
Chapman’s web-site is http://www.stevencurtischapman.com/ There you can offer your words of comfort and make donations to http://members.shaohannahshope.org/site/PageServer. Shaohannah’s Hope is a ministry created to mobilize Christians to care for orphans.
There are always many lessons to learn when a little one dies. We are reminded to seize the opportunities that God gives with our children. Turn off the television more often and get to know the little ones who spin and sway to the music right before our weary and distracted eyes.
“She spins and she sways to whatever song plays,
Without a care in the world.
And I'm sittin' here wearing' the weight of the world on my shoulders.
It's been a long day and there's still work to do,
She's pulling at me saying "Dad I need you!
There's a ball at the castle and I've been invited and I need to practice my dancing'"
"Oh please, daddy, please!" (From the song Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman)
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1 comment:
Very encouraging Ray and also a great reminder to those of us who get rapped up in our day to day busy-ness and often see our children as hindrances or a bother. May we stop and relish every sweet moment they act like children.
Thanks Ray,
Megan
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