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Maria Sue Chapman – 2003-2008
Posted by Duncan on May 24th, 2008
I can’t imagine the loss of a child. I love my two girls so deeply and completely, the very thought of them being gone from my life crushes my heart. And Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman (who sings my daughter and I’s song, Cinderella), lost his 5 year old child Maria to a horrible accident:
West Michigan Christian music fans are expressing their sympathy for Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman after the death of his 5-year-old daughter in an accident Wednesday in the family’s driveway.
…
Maria Sue Chapman was struck by a car driven by one of her teenage brothers, according to authorities in Franklin, Tenn., who added they believe no charges will result from what they termed “a tragic accident.”
The child died 10 days after her fifth birthday. Chapman’s manager, Jim Houser, also noted in a Web site posting the family had been hours away from hosting a high school graduation party for their son Caleb when the accident occurred.
Maria was the youngest of three Chinese girls the family had adopted, two of them through the the Nashville, Tenn., office of Bethany Christian Services. Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth, also have three biological children — two teenage sons and a 21-year-old daughter.
There are no words for this. Other than to say I will pray for the Chapmans, and especially the older brother who was driving the vehicle. The weight on his shoulders and his soul must be unbelievably heavy.
Below I am including a tribute done for a brave girl who went to be with the Lord at the age of nine. I am including it because the tribute uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman called “With Hope”. It is a song that definitely means more to him now than ever…
But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” – Gospel of Matthew 19:14 NASB
Michelle Malkin has more…
May 26th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
There are lessons for all of us in the Steven Curtis Chapman double tragedy where the youngest son accidentally kills the youngest daughter. How do you deal with such grief? With faith, hope, love, laughter. Laughter, yes. When they buried Maria Sue, the Chapmans laughed and cried. That explains my essay, which if you wish, you can read here: ‘Good Grief! Steven Curtis Chapman, please don’t be Sue-sad’ (http://frankahilario.blogspot.com/).
August 7th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
We have heard of people on Long Island who lost young children in the same way, having someone run them over while backing out of a driveway. I always look to see if any children are playing behind or near my car. I back out slowly from our circular driveway. I don’t back out more than I need to…I prefer to drive forward and turn the wheel to the left to avoid hitting parked cars. Often, speed and negligence are factors in these type of accidents. Once you read about such an accident in the newspaper or see one on TV news, you don’t ever forget the dangers of backing out a car. Also, when our 2 children were small, I trained them like dogs about safety. Simple commands they could understand in a loud stern voice. They knew not to run around in parking lots. They knew to hug the car or van as we were getting into it so that they wouldn’t be somewhere a stray car could hit them. I had 2 commands…bad, danger, no (for things like a hot stove or running out into the street) and no touch, no toy (that was for breakable items that were not to be played with). Now our children are 19 and 16. Now, I warn our son about the dangers on the road, drunk drivers, drugged drivers, wreckless drivers. Better to be safe than sorry. I realized when our children were born that the most important thing I could teach them was safety as if they didn’t live and survive to their next birthday, no other lessons would matter.