Grandmother Died in Car Crash as I Drove Her to Church

How God transformed my fear of Him into love.

By Jasmine Kincaid

I joined the party scene after my grandmother died in car crash on a Sabbath morning.

Grandmother had been baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church the previous Sabbath, and I was driving her to church when another car ran a red light and plowed into our vehicle.

I felt tremendous guilt over the death and sought comfort in the party life. But I refused to go out during the Sabbath hours.

Let me explain.

I grew up in a superstitious home in the U.S. state of California. My grandmother would do palm readings and tarot cards. As children, we even saw ghosts. I remember looking up YouTube videos about the antichrist and the mark of the beast. I became afraid of God.

As I grew older, I joined the wrong crowd. I began to attend a lot of punk-rock shows. I cared deeply about the things of the world but was not happy. I wanted to become a professional tattoo artist.

As I grew older, I joined the wrong crowd. I began to attend a lot of punk-rock shows. I cared deeply about the things of the world but was not happy. I wanted to become a professional tattoo artist.

My grandmother also wasn’t happy. In her pursuit for peace, she began to pray for our family and for truth.

One day an Adventist student knocked on our door. She was going house to house, selling books to raise school tuition funds as part of the Adventist Church’s Youth Rush summer program. My mother bought two books, “Christ Object Lessons” and “Steps to Christ,” by church cofounder Ellen G. White.

My mother was thrilled about “Steps to Christ.”

“Jazzy, read this! It’s really good!” she said, handing me the book.

I brushed her off and didn’t open it.

Around this time, both of my grandmothers became interested in Adventism from watching Adventist television. Then they decided to be baptized. Now I was interested in Adventism!

But a week after their baptism, the car accident happened. There were seven of us in the car: my two grandmothers, three children, and me. The grandmother who had prayed for truth was killed.

I began to party hard again, but for some reason never on Sabbath.

Then one day the Youth Rush student, Bethany, remembered our family and returned to our home to give Bible studies. My family decided to give God and Adventism one more chance.

The turning point for me came on a Friday evening when Bethany took me to a Youth Rush leader’s house for a worship service. All the people in attendance seemed so happy and friendly. It weirded me out.

“Why are they so happy?” I thought. “Why can’t I be this happy?”

Those happy people intimidated me. But I really wanted whatever they had that made them happy. I had grown up scared of God and hell.

On the car ride home, Bethany gave me a quick Bible study from John 3:16. She read: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Bethany described God’s love as everlasting and explained that hell was not everlasting. I began to sense hope again.

A few weeks later I learned how to pray during a teen spiritual retreat in the California mountains. Then I applied to the Youth Rush program. In the interview, I was told that going door to door would be the hardest thing that I’d ever done. Many people cry the first night and leave halfway through the program, program leaders said.

I thought to myself: “I won’t cry! I want to do this!”

I didn’t cry. In fact, I met many spiritually hungry people that summer. I also learned to read my Bible daily and finally read “Steps to Christ.” I made many genuine friends. I began to experience healing, happiness and, most of all, God’s love. I returned home after the program to discover that my family had also been experiencing a spiritual revival.

With my Youth Rush earnings and an accompanying scholarship, I was able to attend Fresno Adventist Academy my senior year. I realized that I wanted to stay in ministry but longed to learn more about the Bible. So now I am studying to be a Bible worker at Souls West, an evangelism school owned and operated in Arizona by the Adventist Church’s Pacific Union.

I can’t wait to share my story with Grandma on the New Earth!