“We do not grieve as those who have no hope …

… but oh, how we grieve.”

This from a letter on The Loux Family Blog announcing that this father of 10, 3 of whom are Ukrainian children with special needs whom Derek and Renee adopted last year, was killed in a car accident early on the morning of December 23rd. He was traveling home from Colorado where he was participating in a conference receiving training on how to minister to victims of human trafficking.

Derek is in the presence of the Lord, but his wife, Renee, and their children are here.

My heart aches for this wife and mother of many and I find myself praying for her often through the day. Because of what I see in this family’s life as I observe the testimony of their faith through their blog, have watched Derek lead worship at IHOP, and have seen them join with other families such as John and Tracie Loux and Randy and Kelsey Bohlender in living out their James 1:27 passion to care for orphans, to adopt children who would otherwise be aborted, to rescue girls and women who are victims of human trafficking, and more, I am confident that Renee will find in Jesus her “hope and stay.”

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

Christ alone is the solid rock. There is no other ground on which we can stand. While I am confident that Renee is resting in the unchanging grace of Christ, finding Him to be her hope and stay, and looking forward with a hope that does not disappoint to the Day when Christ shall return and she will be forever worshipping the Lord with Derek, I am still compelled to pray for her. Would you join me in lifting up Renee, the children, John and Tracie, and the many others who are personally connected with this family?

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18