The Zone Gathering

As alumnus of Taylor University, I was saddened by the news that four Taylor students and a university employee were killed when an out-of-control semi hit their van in April 2006. Sadness was replaced with shock, however, when it was determined five weeks later that the identities of two remarkable young women were mistaken in those fateful minutes after the crash.

The parents of Whitney Cerak believed their daughter perished in the crash, held a funeral, and continued to mourn. The family of Laura Van Ryn sat by their daughter’s hospital bed for weeks as they waited for her to recover. Only as the whole world discovered weeks after the crash, it was actually Laura who had died and Whitney who was making the recovery.

Two years after the crash, the Van Ryn and Cerak families have co-written a book about their ordeal entitled Mistaken Identity: Two Families, One Survivor, Unwavering Hope. I haven’t had the opportunity to read the book yet, but listening to the Van Ryn and Cerak families interviewed on television and how boldly they profess their faith in Jesus Christ is inspiring and humbling. God has been glorified through this tragedy, and I have no doubt that people will turn to Christ as a result of these families uniting together to tell their story.

To see videos of “Today” show host Matt Lauer’s interview with them, please click here. A two-hour special will air tonight on “Dateline” and feature Whitney telling her story in her own words. If you want to celebrate a story of hope and be encouraged that God can be glorified in heartbreak and Jesus Christ praised through tragedy, please tune in.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 28th, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under News and Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.