I’ll admit – I’m addicted to email. My wife has often accused me of it, and I’ve always denied it. But sometimes, it’s just reassuring to check in and make sure I don’t have an unread message waiting for me in cyberspace. If I don’t have a chance to check it during the day, I’ll check it at night – which just reinforces my wife’s theory of addiction.

On Monday, after mowing and trimming the entire yard . . . and even using some total vegetation killer to get rid of the weeds that plague my red-block patio every year, I plugged in the phone line and connected. I was hoping to hear from someone regarding a job – or maybe a reply about some of my coursework – but I only found prayer requests from church . . . quite a few of them, actually.

Most of the requests were the usual . . . health updates, doctor visits, illness, etc. . . . items that you sometimes look at, whisper a prayer, and then delete. But one request got my attention, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind since.

Chris Carr, an area native, is well known for his accomplishments on the basketball court – in high school, college, and professionally. Most people around here recognize his name and remember the radio broadcasts of his high school games. Around 4 am Saturday morning, Chris’s four-year-old daughter suddenly died in her mother’s arms. The first prayer request said that she had suffered a heart attack; a later update said that the cause was being cited (pending an autopsy) as heart failure.

I’ve heard people say that there is nothing more unnatural than living through the death of a child. I last heard that comment from one of our MSTA field staff when one of our salary consultants experienced the loss of his son. No matter the age, I can’t imagine the devastation that a parent must feel to go through something so horrible. But for a mother to hold her four-year old in her arms as she breathes her last breath – it must feel unbearable.

The Carr family is leaning on God through this. The girl’s funeral was today, and I know that there have been a lot of people across the country praying for them. The past few nights, I have woken up to a crying baby in the room across the hall. As I would put her pacifier back in and tuck her back into bed, I would think about the wonderful blessing that God has given us in our daughter, and how precious she is. I’d also think about the Carr family and the incredible emptiness they must be feeling without their daughter. As I’d drift back to sleep, I’d ask God to comfort them – especially during the night.

When a parent experiences a loss like this, it’s a reminder to all parents that our children are not ours at all – they belong to God. He is loaning them to us – entrusting them to our care. One day, He will take them back to be with Him. Only He knows when that time will be. We must make the most of every second we are given with them.