This past weekend I read Carol Kent’s book When I lay My Isaac Down — Unshakable Faith in Unthinkable Circumstances (NavPress, 2004). Kent’s son (Jason Paul) was a committed Christian, an exemplary graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and on his way to a career as a Navy officer.
He married a young woman named April with two small daughters. When April’s ex-husband demanded more and more visitation rights with his young daughters, Jason became obsessed with protecting his stepdaughters. For whatever reason, this young naval officer just could not get a handle on his anger toward his wife’s ex-husband, and in 1999 Jason shot and killed him. Jason now is serving a life-sentence without parole in a Florida prison.
Carol Kent, a well-known Christian writer and international speaker — using the Biblical narrative of Abraham preparing to sacrifice his son Isaac as a backdrop — candidly retells her emotional and spiritual agony in the book. It’s one of those stories that is just sadder than life. The book is a real page turner. I’ll tell you that.
In the four years since this needless tragedy, Carol Kent has learned to lay her Isaac down. Sad to say, there were no winners in this story.
In turning over their son to the Lord, Carol and Gene Kent found and are finding an emerging awareness of God’s relentless love.
In the end Carol says to her readers:
“…I encourage you to run to Him when you are beaten down, broken into pieces, questioning your faith, and doubting His goodness. If you listen, you will hear Him say the same thing I said to my son on my first visit to the jail: ‘There is nothing that will ever take away my unconditional love for you.’ Get used to it. God loves people who don’t have all the answers.”
Brothers, is the alternative to not laying down our Isaacs that appealing? I don’t think so. Cast your cares on Him. He cares for you as none other can!
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