Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”
— Matthew 19:26
At approximately 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, October 24, 2004, a Med Flight Lear Jet Air Ambulance slammed into the southwest face of Otay Mesa on the California/Mexico border at a high rate of speed, killing all five crew members. One of them was my friend, John Lamphere, who was the First Officer. I had performed John’s wedding with Tammie, the absolute love of his life, just four and a half months earlier. He was only 30.
The plane and crew were returning to their Albuquerque, New Mexico base from the completion of a patient flight, which began in Manzanillo, Mexico, and terminated in San Diego, California. The pilots were in contact with air traffic control until they lost radio contact after only a few minutes into the flight. There were no communications from the crew indicating anything other than normal flight conditions prior to the crash. A San Diego County Sheriff’s helicopter airlifted search and rescue personnel to the site on the first day but they later had to hike into the rugged area to look for the crew’s remains. Ironically, the accident occurred on the same mountain where a charter jet went down in 1991 and killed ten, including seven members of the country western singer Reba McIntyre’s band.
John’s funeral was one of the toughest that I have ever done—not only because I was his pastor but we were also in the process of becoming very good friends. He was young and handsome, with a beautiful new wife and his dream job—flying a Learjet serving people in distress. John was one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. “God, why did this happen? Are You in any of this tragedy?” I had no answers but God did—and He would soon reveal at least one that would bring great comfort to Tammie.
Five days after the funeral I called Tammie to see how she was coping with the pain of John’s death. She could hardly control herself but it wasn’t totally from grieving as much as it was from an amazing telephone call she had just received from the Program Director with Med Flight. Tammie shared with me that just the day before, while praying with one of our church pastors, they had asked God to please let John’s wedding ring be found at the crash site—a ring that had a beautiful inscription inside in Spanish, “Te Amaré Siempre,” which means, “I will love you forever.”
It seemed like an impossible prayer at the time but she remembered the words of Jesus to His disciples in Matthew’s gospel, “But with God everything is possible” (Matthew 19:26). The telephone call was to tell her that a wedding ring had been found that may have belonged to her husband. It was located several hundred yards from the crash site on top of a bunch of rocks. Her heart exploding, Tammie was asked if there was an inscription inside the ring. She answered, “Yes, it says, “Te Amaré Siempre.” The caller replied, “Tammie, they’ve found John’s ring!”
But there’s more to this beautiful story—and tomorrow I’ll tell you the amazing climax of how John’s ring was found. It is the second part of the miracle Tammie had prayed for . . . . Maranatha!
To help us walk closer with God and to know Him better
