Fearless

A call from my wife. Not unusual when I was on the road. Just not this time

- Ricardo Sanchez, San Antonio, Texas

MY WIFE, JENNETTE, HAD dropped me off at the Atlan-ta airport that day to catch a flight to Jacksonville, Florida. I had my guitar with me and my gig bag. I’m a composer and singer, and I had a show that night. Back then, just eight years ago—it seems like eons—there wasn’t any Wi-Fi on the plane, so I would be out of touch en route. No problem. Jennette was used to being in charge at home. We had three boys. The youngest, Micah, was at summer camp, and the older two, Josiah and Ricardo, were swimming at a friend’s house.

We’d had an awesome family vacation the week before, out on the central California coast, where Jennette’s parents lived. The highlight had been the sea lions. We’d spent hours watching them dart among the waves, leaping and plunging into the breakers. “I’d love to swim like that,” Josiah, age nine, had said, mimicking their fearless diving. Josiah was pretty fearless himself. Tall for his age, athletic. I could see him growing up to be a great basketball player.

I felt mighty blessed as a parent and a musician, doing what I loved, writing and performing praise songs and raising a family. I’d just written a new song, “It’s Not Over.” The words said a lot about how I felt. “I know it’s dark just before the dawn…. So look to the sky—help is on the way…. When God is in it, there is no limit.” We can never be sure of the big picture. We can only live in faith and trust.

How true those words would prove to be that day.

As soon as the plane landed in Jacksonville, I checked my phone. I had a couple dozen messages.