Jay and Katrina Erickson

This post clearly starts as a journal entry from several days ago, but as I have felt the need to share this with all of you, I have modified it.

I am not sure how I am supposed to write tonight. We have received word today that Jay and Katrina Erickson (Micah’s cousin) were killed in an airplane accident in Zambia, Africa where they were serving as missionary pilots to Chitokoloki Mission Hospital. They leave behind two little girls about our girls’ ages.

I cannot help but weep and mourn. I get down on my knees to pray, but mostly I cry. It is good the spirit can intercede on my behalf. My heart is broken and not just for those girls but for this family. This family has left so many behind in Africa it is beyond my fathoming. It creates in me a desire for this world to just come to an end…to just be done with all this; with all this pain, with all this hurt and loss.

Cam, the father of the deceased has now buried five immediate family members on that continent. Not even thirty years ago, this very same scenario played out for him when his brother, his wife and young son died in a car accident that took their lives but left their two daughters behind. Cam’s nieces were raised by his brother. Just losing a brother in this fashion is too hard to imagine but now his son as well? So much heartache, so much loss for one family to bear. How can this be? In what world is this right? Very few things in this world seem right or good but there is no denying the Erickson’s were born for Africa and Africa has needed the Ericksons.

It started three generations ago, when five brothers left their homestead in Montana to “take the gospel to the natives” and almost a hundred years later, Ericksons are still changing the continent. Thousands and thousands of Africans have come to know the Lord through their work. But it has not been without sacrifice. Nine Ericksons now lie in the African soil. Cam and Barb Erickson (M’s godparents/uncle and aunt) have left a brother, sister-in-law, nephew, son, daughter-in-law, uncle, aunt, and two cousins. Cam and Barb’s uncle, aunt and cousin I refer to are Jim’s (M’s dad) family…originally five and now just two. Jim’s sister died of yellow fever when she was just fourteen and his parents were martyred while Jim, having returned as an adult, served as a fellow missionary less than an hour away.

Very few families pass on any sort of passion from one generation to the next much less a passion for a continent, for a people; a people not of their own blood. Yet each Erickson generation has returned to carry on the ministry. Jay and Katrina Erickson are the third generation to give their lives to Africa. It is no exaggeration to say that the spiritual face of the entire continent of Africa has been impacted through the presence of this family. Countless Africans can trace their eternal lives back to an Erickson.

So why is the loss of a life so purposely lived so depressing? Jay said in his own words that there is no sadness in death for a Christian, other than the loss of companionship by those left behind. And he was right, yet it is precisely that companionship that makes us weep. Two baby girls who will grow up without their mother and father. Four parents who will bury their children before their time. Four siblings who will never again see their brother or sister and who will now raise their orphaned children. So many Africans who will not be carried to help by their white friends, will likely die themselves. Hundreds of brothers and sisters in Christ who will never again see, never again glean from, never again hold, hug or love on these people. So many missionaries who lost a fellow worker in the harvest. It will be deeply felt; deeply lost.

Jay got it all right, technically, but he missed it on the loss we all feel. We do not mourn the loss of their souls, those are safe with Jesus. What we mourn is the loss of their spirit that was supposed to live with us for just a little bit longer. We mourn because it reminds us of the loss of all those who have gone before them and the years of lost companionship left in the African soil.

Today we mourn the loss of Jay and Katrina, the loss of the parents their daughters will never know and the loss of parents who must bury their children.

Please pray with us that the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard their hearts and their minds in Christ Jesus. Pray that God will unleash all that He is into their hearts and minds, that He will offer a comfort and love we can’t even imagine.