I want to request prayer for a recent traumatic experience. Yesterday afternoon around 3:00 pm I was called by a dear friend of ours - an elderly missionary from our partner organization Missionary Flights International. He was desperately crying for help over the phone but I couldn't get him to respond to any questions.
I immediately assumed he was having a heart attack so I went along with a pastor and another EMT / PA to provide assistance. I tried calling him several times as we raced across town to his house but he would not answer.
When we pulled up to his place, the front gate was locked so I climbed the barbed wire wall and opened the gate from inside to let the vehicle in. I opened the front door and was immediately taken back by the vast amounts of blood thought out the entire house.
I called out to George and heard him groaning for help in one of the back bedrooms. As I entered the room I fumbled for the light switch but found that there was no electricity. In the dimly lit room I could see George collapsed on the floor almost unrecognizable due to the large amount of blood covering him from head to toe. Without going into the gory details, George was a victim of a home invasion stabbing and I counted 53 stab wounds over his body.
We did the best we could to stabilize him and stop the bleeding but several lacerations to the throat were quite deep and he appeared to have a punctured lung. I called a doctor friend of mine to be ready for us at a nearby hospital and loaded George into a vehicle.
Shortly after arriving at the hospital George passed away. I'm still in shock from this event and wish I could have done more to stabilize him prior to transport, but I know that ultimately God is in control and has a perfect plan. George is now in heaven with his Lord and Saviour, where there is no more tears and no more pain.
1 Thes 4:13-14 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
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The Moody Church mourns the passing of George Knoop. George was an integral part of the church who at the age of 73 answered the call of God in his life to become a missionary in Haiti. He was viciously stabbed by a known assailant on May 13th and expired at the Bernard Mevs hospital in Port au Prince around 5:00 pm. Please remember his missionary colleagues, friends, and family as they mourn the death of George. We rejoice knowing that He is now present with the Lord.
4 comments:
Prayers for all...LORD have mercy. Thanks be to God for the gift of George's life and faithful service...praying...God knows the needs.
The wise Thomas A'Kempis wrote: "The days of our existence in time are brief and evil, full of anguish and pain. Here man is stained by sin, ensnared by passion, gripped by fear and torn by care....Blessed home in the city above! Eternity's bright day that night never shadows, filled with light ever streaming from Truth supreme; day forever glad, for ever free from fear..." God comfort you all at this time.
I shuddered when I read this email, my heart breaks at the thought of what happened.):
I am definitely, definitely praying for all who knew George, and for Jason as he deals with this traumatic experience.
I remember him, Jason.
I think George arrived in Haiti about the same time we did, and he came with me one day to help paint houses, but he didn't bring much water with him, and the heat was tough on him. I tried to keep him in the shade. And you know what? He came into my mind earlier today, when I was up on a ladder, and I too was feeling the heat. And then I read your post this evening.
Psalm 72:14
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