Ben and his high school friend had been downstairs watching TV, but it was time for his friend to go home. Ben told his mom he’d be home by his curfew in a half hour. He and his friend were just going to take a quick drive around. Ben’s friend had worked with his dad to fix up the car. A car is important to every teen, and driving is a special new privilege.

Darice, Ben’s mom, remembers that she and her husband, David, went to bed and fell asleep before Ben would have come home. “His door always made a little squeak. When I heard that, I knew he was home, but I fell asleep before I heard it [that night],” says Darice. Jessica, Ben’s 15-year-old sister, was still up.

A little before midnight, Jessica woke them both. A policeman was at the front door, and he did not have good news. Ben was dead. On that late evening summer drive, his friend had missed a turn and hit a tree on Ben’s side of the car. The driver walked away with scratches, but Ben was pronounced dead at the scene. “It was a shock. Words can’t express,” says Darice.

Comfort from God’s promises

The next morning they began calling Ben’s friends and family members. It was Monday morning so they also had to call his employers and tell them what had happened. Everyone was shocked and terribly sorry.

Darice also made a point of calling the young man who was driving that night. She invited him to the house before the funeral. “I needed to tell him that he was merely an instrument in carrying out God’s plan,” she says. “Just as God forgave us through his Son, I could do nothing else but forgive him. It gave me an opportunity to share God’s love and forgiveness with him, which he needed to hear because he was very distraught over losing his friend and was dealing with overwhelming feelings of guilt.”

The funeral was moved from the church to the high school gym to accommodate the large crowd and give some relief from the July heat. Their pastor had prepared them for the funeral. “He said that there would be many people at the funeral and that we needed to be a rock for them,” says Darice.

She continues, “Somehow we made it through. As I look back I don’t know how I made it through. But you find the will to do it. I tried to be the rock Pastor said. The whole time I just knew that Ben was happy, and I was happy for him. He’s in heaven, and he’s waiting for us.”