Pastor Tim Challies’ Son Passes Away Unexpectedly
Tragic news this morning. Reformed Writer and Pastor Tim Challies made the gut-wrenching announcement that his only son passed away yesterday unexpectedly.
His son Nick was “playing a game with his sister and fiancée and many other students when he suddenly collapsed, never regaining consciousness. Students, paramedics, and doctors battled valiantly, but could not save him.”
By all accounts, Nick was a believer and the Lord took him home.
A fuller statement by Challies has been posted below, written on his blog.
Pray for Tim, his wife Aileen, Nick’s fiancée, and their whole family.
“In all the years I’ve been writing I have never had to type words more difficult, more devastating than these: Yesterday the Lord called my son to himself—my dear son, my sweet son, my kind son, my godly son, my only son.
Nick was playing a game with his sister and fiancée and many other students when he suddenly collapsed, never regaining consciousness. Students, paramedics, and doctors battled valiantly, but could not save him. He’s with the Lord he loved, the Lord he longed to serve. We have no answers to the what or why questions.
Yesterday Aileen and I cried and cried until we could cry no more, until there were no tears left to cry. Then, later in the evening, we looked each other in the eye and said, “We can do this.” We don’t want to do this, but we can do this—this sorrow, this grief, this devastation—because we know we don’t have to do it in our own strength. We can do it like Christians, like a son and daughter of the Father who knows what it is to lose a Son.
We travelled through the night to get to Louisville so we could be together as a family. And we ask that you remember us in your prayers as we mourn our loss together. We know there will be gruelling days and sleepless nights ahead. But for now, even though our minds are bewildered and our hearts are broken, our hope is fixed and our faith is holding. Our son is home.”
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I’m very sorry to hear this since I have a 14-year-old son myself I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose him, especially since he is my only one. Is it safe to assume his son was an adult if he had a fiancé? I didn’t know Challies was that old. That said, it sounds like a brain aneurysm or something, which a lot of folks don’t realize can take you out quickly. I mention this because we need to have our affairs in order, in every way, although when you’re as young as Challies’ son was, you’re probably not thinking about that. He said he and his wife had to drive to Louisville, Ky. I thought Canadians were not allowed to leave the country.
We who truly serve Jesus are frequently called to endure painful sacrifices. I say this from experiencing painful loss. This is simply stated but there is much emptiness in sorrow that we do not understand. Lord why? What did I do this time? A shallow statement to make but we, in our devotion to Christ, have a tendency to blame ourselves not understanding the true purpose of our grief. I have seen others experience the same but continue to remain faithful to Christ. Lord, where is the joy, hope, and……? Myself, I feel joyful when sharing Jesus with others as we praise His holy name. God bless until we see Him.