I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. (1 Cor. 9:23)
“MOTHER KILLED BY A RUNAWAY Tractor-Trailer.” The headline gripped my heart when I saw the picture-perfect mom, dad, and three small children. “Just a good, beautiful person,” her pastor said. She most recently served in the mission field with her family in Rome, Italy. She came home to visit family when a truck driver, under the influence of drugs, failed to apply the brake when he got out to perform a safety check. The semi rolled downhill and flipped on top of the vehicle the young woman was driving with her family. Her husband and two children, pulled from the wreckage, survived the accident without many physical injuries. Their third child was riding in a separate vehicle.
Christian ministry can be hard, especially when we see a dedicated missionary taken away from us through such a senseless tragedy. Paul faced a variety of heartache himself, but his writings reveal he was more than convinced that it was worth it all. Without the hope of the gospel, how could we do things like bury a missionary mom of three small children? This precious woman’s husband must agree. A friend who knows the family told me that he is now making plans to return to the mission field. God is strengthening him and spurring him on to “do all this for the sake of the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:23).
Make contact with a missionary family to encourage and pray for them.
Susan Browning Schulz is a Bible teacher, wife, and mom of three grown children. She lives and plays on the Etowah River in Georgia and loves leading her small group.
