On the evening of May 21 the Chapman’s’ lives were suddenly horribly shattered when Maria, 5, was accidentally struck and killed by an SUV driven by her brother Will Franklin, 17. “At first you don’t even know if you can breathe. You don’t know if you are going to survive the grief and the deep, deep, deep sadness. You just want to lay down and die,” says Steven, 45, a five-time Grammy winner and one of Christian music’s biggest stars. “Every lyric I’ve ever written has been tested beyond what I ever imagined.”
–People Magazine, August 25, 2008, page 63
Update: Some more here.
Also, not long after the Chapman tragedy, a leading pastor and evangelist, Greg Laurie, lost his eldest son in a MV accident.
“To everything, there is a season…a time to be born, and a time to die.”
LORD, please comfort those who mourn the tragic death of a loved one, as we look forward to the time when “He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces; the rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth” (Isaiah 25:8). Amen!
During residency, at a spiritual nadir in my life, God threw me a lifeline, Steven Curtis Chapman’s Greatest Hits CD. If it was vinyl, I would have worn it out.
Having weathered that storm, our lives moved into a better place and we adopted a boy with a cleft lip and palate from China. This week, we are leaving to adopt a precious little girl from China, Praise to Him!
Steven Curtis Chapman has been a real hero in the movement to get Christians to consider adoption and for those of us who have. His family’s tragedy hit the adoption world very hard.
In tragic irony, he had written a song about the loss of a child and they have made it into a video dedicated to little Maria Sue Chapman – [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RC_JOk23aI]With Hope[/url].
[blockquote]This is not at all how
We thought it was supposed to be
We had so many plans for you
We had so many dreams
And now you’ve gone away
And left us with the memories of your smile
And nothing we can say
And nothing we can do
Can take away the pain
The pain of losing you, but …
We can cry with hope
We can say goodbye with hope
‘Cause we know our goodbye is not the end, oh no
And we can grieve with hope
‘Cause we believe with hope
(There’s a place by God’s grace)
There’s a place where we’ll see your face again
We’ll see your face again
And never have I known
Anything so hard to understand
And never have I questioned more
The wisdom of God’s plan
But through the cloud of tears
I see the Father’s smile and say well done
And I imagine you
Where you wanted most to be
Seeing all your dreams come true
‘Cause now you’re home
And now you’re free, and …
We have this hope as an anchor
‘Cause we believe that everything
God promised us is true, so …
We wait with hope
And we ache with hope
We hold on with hope
We let go with hope[/blockquote]
He also had written a song about his two adoptive daughters: [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLYxtuC0oRk ]Cinderella[/url].
[blockquote]She spins and she sways
To whatever song plays
Without a care in the world
And I’m sitting 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?”
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…
She says he’s a nice guy and I’d be impressed
She wants to know if I approve of the dress
She says, “Dad, the prom is just one week away
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
She will be gone
Well, she came home today with a ring on her hand
Just glowing and telling us all they had planned
She says, “Dad, the wedding’s still six months away
But 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 [/blockquote]
Kendall, glad to see you post this! It’s quite an amazing story.
For almost 20 years I’ve been listening to and blessed by Steven’s music. He’s perhaps the contemporary artist I most appreciate (I have all his CDs, have seen him in concert three times). His music played a huge role in my life back in 1989-91 when I was facing very challenging times and battling depression as I tried to finish grad school and discern the Lord’s will for me re: missions. His “For the Sake of the Call” came out just as I was getting ready to head overseas and I probably memorized that whole album, especially “What kind of joy is this that counts it a blessing to suffer…” ([url=http://www.stevencurtischapman.com/music.htm]listen here[/url] track #2 of “For the Sake of the Call”)
Anyway, I just happened to catch the news of Maria’s tragic death right after it happened on May 21, and I’ve been praying MUCH for the Chapmans and following the story closely ever since. It is incredible to see what the Lord is doing in and through their lives and how they are boldly proclaiming Christ and His faithfulness in spite of their grief.
I was deeply moved to watch some You Tube videos of Steven in concert recently — in fact his first time back on stage since Maria’s death. The picture quality is awful, but they are COMPELLING listening. If you want to hear a testimony of what it means to believe the hope of the Gospel even when your world has been turned upside down and you are in a very dark place, this is must listening.
Here are two links, the first is early in the show when SCC explains his decision to return to stage. The second link is near the end of the show where Steven starts preaching the Gospel and the confidence he has in Christ.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y7ZqgnF3jM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGd13i3d83g
I transcribed Steven’s word in the second video above to share with a friend I know who has endured great grief. Here’s what Steven had to share:
SCC sharing:
[blockquote]We’re gonna have to skip something here, [rain threatening] … But I’ve gotta say this, ok? I know I’ve said alot, but I need to say this. This is not our home. And most of you know that. But, ever since I stood at the door of eternity and got just a quick little look in, I cannot NOT say this, and not tell you that heaven is real. And I’m so certain and so sure of that, having stood at that place. And there IS a hope, whatever is going on in your life, however desperately hopeless you feel, I can for the first time in my life stand before you and say I know what that feels like.
And I don’t sing these songs tonight or give you this message or say any of this as just something that has just always worked out for me and so I just say it. It is currently being forged in a fire that is really unbearable except for the grace of God, and for the fact that His promises are true. And God cannot lie. And so if He says, “I love you. I will send my Son to make a way for you to know Me and to have life, real life — the life that my sweet daughter and Caleb & Will’s little sister Maria knows fully now, eternal abundant life.” If He says that, that’s the one thing that we will ever hear or know or read that we can absolutely anchor our lives and our hope to. Everything else will disappoint us. Everything else will fail us. And as dark as this time has been in our lives, when I have, out of the most empty place I have ever known said “God, I don’t even know where You are, I don’t even know what I believe right now, but I am choosing to say, “I bless You, I trust You, my hope is in You.””
As I’ve done that, there has been something that has been supernatural, and God has proven and has continued to prove Himself to be the God that we’ve all been singing about and speaking about and talking about. And if you know Him, then don’t miss a moment of living your life for His glory, because nothing else matters. And be bold with this hope that we have. Let it make you bold. That’s what Scripture says, this hope that makes us bold. Don’t mess around with and waste your time with just stuff that doesn’t matter. And let God’s Spirit speak that to you, whatever that might be. And then for all the broken hearts that are here, and that’s every one of us, God has brought us here tonight to tell you that He will bring beauty out of the ashes, and He will bring healing to your heart. Trust Him. I can’t promise you when, I can’t promise you what it will look like cause … there’s more about God that I don’t know than ever before. But what I do know about Him, I know with absolute certainty, that He is faithful, that He keeps His word, and there is a hope and a promise that He is good for. If you don’t know that tonight, don’t leave this place without knowing Him, without acknowledging your need for Him right now, as I pray, you pray with me if you don’t know Him.
[begins praying…]
God, I need You. God, if what this guy is saying is true. I want to know You. I want to be in that place, that home that You’ve prepared for me. So I give you my life, Jesus take me, have my life, have my heart. Show me what this is all about. I open my heart, I soften my heart. If your voice is speaking, I don’t want to harden my heart.
God, take this truth and just accomplish Your will, and Lord drive Satan from this place and frustrate and destroy every one of Satan’s plans and all of his tricks and schemes for every life that’s here. God, have Your way. Be glorified. We love You, we thank You, we praise You, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Ok, well this is gonna seem really crazy. But we’re gonna do it anyway, because we are. Because it is a hope that makes us bold, and if it’s a hope that makes us bold, then what we need to do is take what we have celebrated here, and we need to live it out before a world that’s watching before a world that needs to hear it… [launches into Live Out Loud][/blockquote]
Oh and Steven has [url=http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/jim/2008/07/next-radio-sing.html]added a new 4th verse to his song Yours[/url], (available for [url=http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=287061442&s=143441]download at iTunes[/url] and other digital music sites), and he’s changed the ending to Cinderella when he sings it concert now. The new ending is something like “the clock will strike midnight, but the truth is the dance will go on!” He’s sure of his hope that he will be dancing again with Maria in heaven. Awesome!
Rob Roy — way cool about your adoption! May the Lord grant you safe travels and much joy and grace as you bring your new daughter home.
By the way, all the royalties for Steven’s new single Yours (with the new verse) are going to support the adoption charity he and his wife founded to provide financial support to families wanting to adopt. The ministry is called Shaohannah’s Hope, named after their first adopted daugther. Her name means laughter in Chinese.
Here’s the link:
http://www.shaohannahshope.org/