As a young boy, Claude was inspired by his pastors. So much so that he even entertained the idea of becoming a pastor himself. But as it came time to choose his course of study, Claude considered the lives of these men of God and felt he wasn't good enough. The bar was too high. Still having a desire to help the hurting people in the world, he chose psychology instead.

Claude completed two years at a junior college and then transferred to Oakwood College. As he completed his application and declared his major in psychology, he couldn't silence the calling to be a pastor. So Claude put God to the test. "All right, Lord, I'll enroll with a double major in psychology and theology. If I can graduate with both in two years, then I'll become a pastor." The test seemed simple enough, and safely impossible.

Claude's experience is not unlike many pastors whose call to ministry is not the calling of choice. It was the call of the Lord that made him change his career path.

Claude made his way to the dormitory to discover that his seven suite mates were all theology majors. This won't do, he thought. So he politely requested another room assignment. To his surprise, his new suite mates were all theology majors as well. God was answering his challenge. Before long, Claude found himself at the Seminary, completing his ministerial training.

Kathryn was sitting at a table when she noticed Claude enter the cafeteria. A rather adventurous person, she had chosen a teaching position in a community where she was the only African-American teacher in the entire town of New Lothrup, Michigan. After two years, she decided to go back to Andrews University to earn her masters in guidance and counseling. A graduate student, not yet attached, she noticed that Claude could be a delightful option for a life partner. Then she learned Claude was studying at the Seminary. A friendship and then a romance developed, and the teacher and pastor married.

Kathryn had no plans of being a pastor's wife. In fact, at the beginning of their marriage, she fought with the idea. She struggled with becoming a pastor's wife until she learned that God wanted her to be herself, and that He wanted to develop a relationship with her where she could be herself in ministry.

Now, as she reflects, she sees how God has led in their lives by bringing them together for a shared ministry. As she has met different challenges, Kathryn has sensed the Holy Spirit leading her each step of the way. As a history teacher, Kathryn has been called upon to teach Bible—a responsibility that is almost overwhelming when she recognizes that children's salvation is at stake.

Claude began to experience the fulfillment of his calling—combining his desire to help hurting people with his gift of teaching. "Every human being has a desire to know if God is real. In the pastorate and preaching," Claude reflects, "there is a constant interaction with God. You know that you do not have the wisdom to affect anybody's life. When you realize that the Lord actually gives you words that prove to be positive in people's lives, it is an affirming thing. You can feel the interaction between you and the Holy Spirit. When you interact with God, you know He is real."

Amidst the long hours of a shared ministry, with its challenges and uncertainties, the joy of their lives was born—little Marquita. With all the wisdom that a teacher-mom and psychologist/pastor-dad could bring to bear, Marquita grew to be a delightful, intelligent, and outspoken child. She loved the Lord and interacted well with adults. Marquita was a joy to the whole community.

Just when all seemed well, Marquita developed a brain tumor.

"It intensified my spiritual life," Kathryn testifies. "God was there for me during that time of struggling, not understanding all the time why this had to happen—because we prayed. We had people all over the country praying for her. She had been through six surgeries successfully, and we just felt that God had His hand over her and that He was guiding her, that He was directing her. But due to a mishap in the hospital with her seventh surgery, she had complications, and then two months later she passed."

"When our daughter was passing," Claude relives the ordeal, "the Lord reminded me that she was my only daughter, but Christ was His only son. There was really an intense experience that went along with that. I had gotten to the place that I thought I had suffered more in losing my daughter than God did, because He only had to offer Jesus once on the cross, and she went through eight surgeries and each time you go into surgery, that's life or death—you don't know if you are going to come out.

"I was sitting there feeling really sorry for myself, and the Lord said, 'You are going through this because this is My will, and there is a reason. But tell me this, which of these would you give your daughter for?' When He said 'which of these,' it began to run through my mind like a rolodex on steroids—all the people that I knew. After each one I was saying, 'I wouldn't give her for her, I wouldn't give her for him.' I guess, in that moment, I was shown the difference between me and God, and between us and God. Because when it came down to it, I really didn't think anybody was worth the life of my daughter. But Jesus thought all of us were worthy of His life."

"I guess, for me," Claude adds, "it has sensitized me to the pain of others. It's been a test in whether or not you can trust God through the hard times. I have to tell you I haven't always passed. There have been some struggles with one step forward and two steps back. I guess pastors, like a lot of Christians, sometimes think that we are favored territory. We serve the Lord, so nothing really bad like that is going to happen to us. And when it does, it takes you back. You have to trust God through the hard times. There's a song that I like that says, 'Sometimes God calms the storm, and other times He calms His child.' It means that He doesn't always take away the trials that you have to go through. You just have to trust that somehow all things really work together for good. One thing that it has done is, it has intensified my longing for Heaven."

That was twelve years ago, and Marquita would have been 24 years old on the 25th of September.

After Kathryn's loss, her friends noticed something unusual about her prayers, giving evidence that God had been in her life in a remarkable way. Her advice to them is, "Be willing to say, 'Lord, no matter what happens, I'm willing to trust you.' It's a decision. Each day requires a decision from us."

"It's really true," Claude adds, "when the Lord says, 'your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk ye in it,"' learn to hear and respond to that voice.

"We need to sensitize ourselves to the voice of God. The greatest quest of any created being is that we might know God. Some people think that you can live life without God. After what we've been through with some of our trials, I don't know how we would have made it without the Lord, without the faith and the strength that He gives with His presence."

In the classroom, Kathryn freely shares her experience with her students, telling them that no matter what the pain, God is there to help them through, assuring them that if they are willing to trust God, He can help them.

"I know the Lord has been leading in both of our lives, because I see His hands," Kathryn pauses to remember. "When I was 16 years old, I got hit by a train, and I lived to survive it. And God has placed me here to share the story with you."

Gary Burns is the Lake Union Conference communication director.