On Friday night, May 24th, Missouri State Representative Ben Baker posted these words on Facebook. “My heart is broken in a thousand pieces. I’ve never felt this kind of pain. Most of you know my daughter and son-in-law Davy and Natalie Lloyd are full time missionaries in Haiti. They were attacked by gangs this evening and were both killed. They went to Heaven together. Please pray for my family we desperately need strength. And please pray for the Lloyd family as well. I have no other words for now.”
For most of us, the weight of his sorrow and that of the other family members is impossible to fathom. We pray that “the God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3) will “renew their strength,” that they will again “mount up with wings as eagles… run, and not be weary… walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
In addition to this amazing young couple, Mission Director Jude Montis, a Haitian and a 20-year veteran of ministry work there, was also killed. The three of them worked for a group called Missions in Haiti, Inc., founded and run by Davy Lloyd’s parents. I know nothing about the doctrine of this organization, but I am moved by their commitment to serve a deeply needy people living in one of the world’s most dangerous countries.
At about the same time as Representative Baker’s Facebook post, Davy’s family put up one of their own. It said simply, “Davy and Natalie and Jude were shot and killed by the gang about 9 o’clock this evening. We all are devastated.”
It should not surprise us that sin fills the world, or that God allows it to touch our lives in various ways. Jesus said that we are not “of this world” (John 17:14), but while we remain “in” this world, we will have trouble (John 16:33). Then He added, “But be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
Christians have been martyred since the beginning, and it happens today in ever greater numbers. These kids were there to help Haitian children. They were the salt of the earth. They obviously knew the dangers, yet they faced them with confidence toward God. Like Paul in Philippians 1:21, I’m sure each would say, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Paul was not anxious to die. Sometimes we say “anxious” in reference to intensely wanting something. Sometimes we say it in terms of having great anxiety, distress, or unease. Paul was not anxious in either sense. He understood that bodily death is the context of earthly life, and that, for believers, heaven is the context of our present existence. Because he was sold out in service to God, he didn’t count his life dear unto himself. It was all God’s. So it was with these precious missionaries in Haiti.
These truths do little to ease the pain of the bereaved families. Even those of us who never knew Davy, Natalie, or Jude feel a tremendous sense of loss. But their lives and their deaths should be an example. May their testimonies help the rest of us to realize anew those things which are of eternal value in Christ. These young missionaries chose to serve the children of a violence-riddled country because each child in that country carries eternal value.
They chose love as the “better way” (1 Corinthians 12:31), and so should each of us.
