In memory

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." Matthew 5:4

I don't quite know what to say this morning. Our beloved pastor, Bro. Scott Teutsch, and his family lost their precious daughter, Jessica, to a car crash Thursday morning. She was on her way to student teach at a middle school in Texas when another driver crossed the center line and hit her car.

I can't wrap my head around the fact that Jessica is really gone from us. It's not real that I won't see her singing with the praise team at church. It's not real that we'll never pass in the hallway and she'll never give me that shy, bright smile again. My heart aches for her family and the friends that loved her so much. We all loved Jessica. Her sweet, gentle spirit and quiet strength compelled us to do so. That was evident at her memorial service, which was filled almost to capacity with people who loved her.

Her family is a strong one, their faith in God tangible. Jessica was, as one of the ministers said, a humble & quiet servant. She learned that from her parents and took it to heart. And, as Bro. Aaron so eloquently said, her life was not lived in vain. In serving others, she served our Lord.

I left her memorial service with a sober heart asking God to reveal to me ways to serve others. I don't want to have lived my life in vain. When the time comes for my memorial service, I want to be remembered for the difference I made in the lives of those I encountered. Not a huge, attention-getting difference. Just a difference that feels personal to each one.

So, this is the hope that we have in Christ. That even though our lives on earth will end, we will yet live to worship the Lord forever in Heaven. Faith in Christ and a desire to make him our personal Lord is all that he requires of us. Jessica is gone from us for a time, but I take comfort in the fact that the moment she drew her last breath in a mangled car in Texas, she sang her first note of praise in Heaven. I pray that all of you who read this also have that hope in Jesus. If not, please feel free to e-mail me with questions. I don't have all the answers, but I am willing to search them out with you.

Please pray for the Teutsch family. Though they know their sweet girl is in Heaven, they are still human and will be going through a hard time adjusting to life without her. I want to leave you all with a favorite verse of Jessica's that really spoke to me at her memorial service...

"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 8: 38-39

In loving memory

Jessica Elise Teutsch

February 27, 1987 ~ January 15, 2009