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At first it was frustrating to think God called me to be a preacher, and then
took something as important as my speech away from me.” These were the thoughts of Darrick Lareva, nearly two years
after he had a terrible accident on his way home to Michigan
from Bethany Bible College
in Sussex, NB, to spend Christmas with
his family.
Great Future
In 1998, when Darrick was 16 and still in high school, he worked for a brokerage
firm stuffing envelopes. When he started, he was the lowest paid person on the chart; but when he finished, he was a Branch
Office Administrator. Told he could be a broker when he finished college, he
was sitting in front of the New York Stock Exchange on a warm, spring day, thinking about his dream; when God spoke to him
about becoming a minister. He said, “At first I fought with God, but that
day I gave over my desires to work for myself and make a broker’s salary to answer God’s call to become a preacher. I never felt so sure of something in my life!”
Changed Plans
Darrick was attending Bethany, and in the process of training for his call,
when the car in which he was a passenger left the ice-covered road and plunged over a steep embankment near Skowhegan, Maine,
on December 14, 2002. Because of the severe head injuries, blood clots, and bone fragments in the right side of his brain,
his physicians told Diane Malone, Darrick’s mother, “Get used to seeing your son like this. We don’t expect
him to come out of the coma, or be off the respirator. His central brain has stopped working.” However, God had called
this young man to preach, and He had different plans.
A “New” Voice
God’s miracles began early. On the day of the accident, a mail carrier
saw the car going out of control, and called the ambulance even before the car came to rest. Not only that, the car following
was full of medical professionals, who provided emergency medical attention at the scene of the accident.
Sixteen months after his accident Darrick Lareva, slow in gait, moved awkwardly
down the aisle at Sussex Wesleyan
Church. Standing on the
platform before nearly four hundred people, he smiled at the audience. And in his quiet, “after-the-accident”
voice, he said: “We all have handicaps in one way or another, but why not tell God you are ready to hand that handicap
over to him.” He challenged the listeners. “God wants your problems; you don’t have to carry your burdens
alone.”
Darrick has returned to Bethany
Bible College, where he is pursuing
his degree in pastoral ministry. God gave the young preacher a “new voice” to share the message of His power over
life’s sudden change of plans. •
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