Steve Luth: Some First & Final Thoughts

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My mom and dad have lived in and around Muscatine, Iowa their entire lives. They put their faith in Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior before I was born. They have walked the walk and talked the talk my entire life. This past Sunday was Mother's Day and I am blessed with a very godly mom and mother-in-law. That was a lot to celebrate and we had a good time this past weekend visiting them in Muscatine.

Stephen Luth, 22; recently graduated from Oral Roberts University

But this weekend was also tough in a way we never thought it would be. For years my mom has been attending a Bible study with several friends that is led by David Luth and hosted by David and Cyndi at their home in Muscatine. David has been a huge blessing to me even though we have never met because whenever I faced a challenge or needed wisdom, my mother would ask their Bible study group to pray. On more than one occasion she would call me back with a word of knowledge or scripture passage that was right on target for what I needed.

Last week my Mom called me and was so excited because the Luth's son Stephen was graduating from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And he was going to work for Teen Mania, specifically with Acquire the Fire in their marketing and promotions department.

My mom didn't know too much about Acquire the Fire so I told her quite a bit about this great ministry and she got so excited she had to hang up with me so she could call David and tell him what a great ministry their son was going to be involved with.

Early Saturday morning Lynn and I went to meet my mom so they could go to yard sales in Durant, Iowa. My mom had tears in her eyes as she told me that Stephen had been killed in a plane crash in Kansas the previous day while on his way to be part of the Acquire the Fire rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa this past weekend. It was surreal. We had a lot of great reunions with friends and family this past weekend, but there were a lot of tears too. Especially among those who have been ministered to by the Luth's.

Like I said, to my knowledge I never had the opportunity to meet Stephen. But from what I have read about him in his obituary, I think I would have loved connecting with him and possibly doing more together with him. He ran track and cross country for Muscatine High School so we would have had that in common to talk about. He was very involved in church throughout high school and that would have been fun to discuss. He sounded like a passionate young man who loved God and had a great future in ministry ahead of him.

There are definitely times where you wonder why bad things happen to such great people. This is one of those instances where my question marks seem to overshadow my exclamation marks.

But the foundational truth that cannot be shaken, is that I know where Stephen is and I am confident that we will meet.

I am also assured by the Word that as his spirit left his body he was in the presence of light and before his loved ones could even begin to grieve, he was probably in the presence of angels who had manifested themselves for the express purpose of escorting Stephen into the very presence of the Savior he served, just as the angels had been assigned to carry Lazarus into "Abraham's bosom."

Back in January of 1956, five young missionaries were speared to death in the jungles of Ecuador. The offenders have now become Christians and have told Steve Saint, the son of one of the martyrs, that they heard and saw what they now believe to be angels while the killings were taking place. A woman hiding in the distance also saw these beings above the trees and didn't know what kind of music it was she hearing until many years later when she heard a record player for the first time and someone was playing the music of a Christian choir.

I believe that Stephen was immediately surrounded by the angels who had watched him serving God on earth, immediately introduced themselves to him as they made their way to Christ. Because as cool as it would have been to be there when Stephen saw these mighty beings, the true longing of any believer is to see Christ! And since we are His sheep, He calls us by name, and perhaps Christ Himself was standing above the wreckage of the worn out airplane, just as He was standing above the wreckage of Stephen's martyred body in Acts 7:55. And we know His welcome is genuine and eternal. Stephen has now seen His nail prints and the first thing he probably did was kneel and worship the Savior whom he loved.

Those that are left behind will lay his earthly body to rest this Friday. But we are encouraged to know this: Stephen's personality will live on in eternity as will all of ours. We may grieve his loss, but we know that we will see him again because personal knowledge continues (1 Corinthians 13:9), personal love continues, personal feelings continue, and personal activities continue! Stephen is not going to be bored for a second! While we are waiting to be reunited with those we loved, who loved Jesus, they are busy loving God with a new purposefulness and a new purity!

If Stephen, and others already in Heaven could talk to us; I believe they would urge us to be faithful! They would tell us that if we only knew how genius God is, we would do all that we could to please Him, "For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed to us" (Romans 8:18). I believe Stephen would tell us to live on earth with Heaven in mind.    

Life is short, eternity is long! Never take those you love for granted and make sure you enjoy those you love every chance you get! Thanks for reading this blog, and for offering up a prayer for the family and friends that are longing for the day when they will be reunited with this precious Saint!