PRAYER REQUEST

On Sunday morning before we left for church, Sam received a text from the president of Dordt College asking all students to pray for a sophomore girl at Northwestern College, another Christian college just 12 miles from Dordt. The text said she had lost her entire family in a horrific car accident Saturday night in Sioux Falls. We were shocked by this news and felt so deeply for this surviving child. Little did we know then that the mother who died is Sam’s second cousin.

When names were released, the mom’s maiden name was not included and Dick found out from another relative that indeed, this family had Ekstrom blood. The mom’s father is Dick’s first cousin.

They were driving home from their son’s basketball game. A 16-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son, both athletes at Sioux Falls Christian High School, as well as the dad died at the scene. The mother died at the hospital. The cause of the accident was not alcohol or icy roads. They are investigating to try to find a cause as to why they swerved into the median and hit 2 guard rails, vaulted in the air and landed under a bridge. Unless they find a medical reason in autopsy, or find fault in the car, we will never know why it happened. Was it a coyote or fox or dog crossing the road that led them to swerve? Who knows. I know the family will long for an answer it may never receive.

When I left for work this morning, I held my husband a bit longer than usual. Truly, one never knows when they will see a loved one for the last time. You really never know. You think you are simply driving home from an out-of-town eighth grade basketball game, but instead, your life ends.

Please pray for this family. The grief of grandparents, siblings, cousins and friends is unimaginable. And the grief of Brittany, the surviving daughter, is so profound that no emotional scale could measure it. Her entire family is gone. The Vollmer family needs prayer. Thanks.