There is no shortage of people in our area who live their faith daily so I rarely have difficulty writing my article. I usually have more difficulty getting it to the editors than actually compiling the information. However, this week I wrestled with what to write because I wanted to do this particular story justice.

Like so many others in this area, I experienced a sense of overwhelming sadness and disbelief after hearing the tragic news about the Maxwell family. As a former English teacher at Village Christian Academy, I felt connected to my former students and coworkers who knew and loved the family, though I personally did not. I felt helpless. I wanted to cry. I wanted to try to make sense of things.

Instead, I made a phone call. I made a phone call to Village Christian and spoke with the one person I felt I could reach out to and that was Kimet Montooth, middle school principal.

The first question she asked me was, “Did you teach Connor?” I had not. My first question to her was, “Do you need help with grief counseling because that’s all I know to do?”

She responded to my offer with gratitude and appreciation. We spoke briefly and ended our conversation.

What I have read and heard about the Maxwell family for the past week is what compelled me to honor them in this way. They are all individuals who loved the Lord and served him to the best of their ability. They were, in life, truly faces of faith in our community and in the lives of others they so deeply touched. In death, they remain the same faces of faith because their faith and trust in the Lord determined their heavenly home. “For to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”

Rest in peace, Maxwell family.