Jessica Ruth Powell

AUTHOR: Roger Powell, Pastor, TriCity Baptist Church - Huntersville, NC

Jessica Ruth Powell
April 24, 1980 - December 1, 1988

On December 1, 1988, at about 2:30 a.m., our family went through what most people would call a tragedy - the death of our daughter, Jessica. Just shortly after midnight, we had pulled our van onto Interstate 75, heading south for a time of vacation. Not long after we left our home in Bridgeport, Michigan, we encountered snow. I remember thinking, If we can just get a little farther down the road, this snow will be behind us. However, the snow continued and the roads began to get slippery.

Since road conditions were deteriorating, we had slowed the van to what we thought was a safe speed. However, as we crossed the bridge over Interstate 94 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the van broke traction and began to fish-tail wildly. As the van continued out of control we hit the concrete retaining wall, slid back onto the highway and rolled over on the passenger side.

When we stopped moving, I got out of the over-turned van and ran back up the expressway to wave off oncoming traffic. The next two vehicles that came over the bridge also lost control. After a few moments traffic began to stop on both sides of the expressway, realizing there had been an accident.

As I turned to go back to the van to help my family, I heard my wife call out to me. My whole body seemed to go numb as I heard her say, Jessica's not in the van. Immediately I scanned the ground around me and there, about thirty yards behind the van was my daughter's motionless body. She had been thrown through the rear side window when the van hit the wall. I ran to where she was lying and picked her up in my arms - the last time I would ever have the opportunity to hold her.

After a while ambulances began to arrive. I rode in the ambulance to the hospital with Jessica as the Emergency Medical Technicians tried to revive her. Another ambulance brought my oldest daughter to the hospital. Fortunately, the only injury she sustained was a severe abrasion to her right arm. The police brought my wife and other two children to join me in a special emergency waiting room. Shortly after our family was reunited, the emergency room doctor and two nurses came in. He said the words that anyone would dread to hear, "I'm sorry. There was nothing we could do. Your daughter was killed instantly." I asked the doctor the cause of death and he told me that her neck had been broken and her chest had been crushed.

Of course, this is the type of thing that only happens to other people. But it had happed to us. We were going home to any empty bedroom, an empty place at the table, an empty spot in our family. In my heart, however, something very unusual was taking place. Instead of feeling fear, anger, or over-whelming sorrow over the loss of one of my dear children, I felt a peaceful and calm assurance.

In the days that followed, two thoughts stood out among the many I had. Since we are from the South, we often kid our Northern friends about Georgia being God's Country. The night we left on our trip, Jessica had told one of our church members, "Tonight, I'm going to God's Country." Little did we know the reality of her statement.

Also, I was reminded that God had not done something terrible to me, but, instead, had done something very special for Jessica. He had indeed taken her to His Country.

Today, as I look back on that experience, there are two reasons I believe that I responded the way I did. First of all, I am convinced that God is in control of my life and that everything He does is good. That evening we didn't really have an accident. We simply kept an appointment God had made for us. Secondly, Jessica had, only weeks before, made her peace with God. As an eight-and-a-half year old young lady, she was ready to die. It was impossible for me to be angry with God for taking my daughter, because He had taken her to a perfect place called Heaven, God's Country, where I will meet her again some day. You see, I also have made peace with God.

How does a person make peace with God? Many different religions will tell you many different things, but, the Bible says there is only one way to make peace with God and that is through Jesus Christ, God's only Son. Please consider the following:

Everyone in this world has sinned, done something which is wrong. The Bible says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

Since everyone has sinned, we deserve to suffer the punishment for our wrong-doing by being eternally separated from God in the literal lake of fire called Hell. The Bible tells us, For the wages of sin is death . . . Romans 6:23a

God, however, is a loving God and doesn't want anyone to die and go to Hell. Because God loves everyone so much, He allowed His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross and actually suffer Hell in our place. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 But God commendeth (showed) His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, salvation is provided as a free gift for everyone. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23 All a person must do is simply pray and ask for that free gift.

Just a few weeks before Jessica's death, she received God's gift of eternal life by praying a prayer to God something like this:

"Dear Jesus, I know I am a sinner and I know I deserve to die and go to Hell. But, I want to go to Heaven when I die. Please forgive me for all my sin and come into my heart. I, right now, receive Your gift of eternal life."

My friend, you too can have peace in the trials of life. If you have already received Jesus Christ as your Savior, realize that He loves you and is in control of your life, even though life may sometimes seem out of control.

If you, right, now, do not know for sure that you are on your way to Heaven, let me urge you to please review the verses I shared with you from God's Word, the Bible, concerning salvation. Then pray the prayer that my daughter prayed. By praying this prayer from your heart to God, you will be saved from your sin and receive God's gift of eternal life.

You can contact Roger Powell at rpowell@tricitybaptist.net.