Where Was God?
On the morning of February 13, 2017, I got up early for work, same as always. Michael, my nine-year-old, was asleep in the old red recliner. “I love you, buddy,” I said. His eyes barely opened. “I love you too, Dad.”
Those were the last words we ever spoke to each other.
That morning, on the way to school, an eighteen-wheeler hauling coal struck the car carrying my four children. Michael, 9, and Meagan, 17, went home to be with Jesus. Katie, 19, and Donna, 15, survived. Donna came through a dissected aorta and emergency heart surgery, and doctors warned she might never speak again.
After the wreck and the loss, the question was the one anyone would ask: Where was God when this happened?
The answer is this: He was Already There.
He was there weeks before, when Michael came to us in tears and asked what we would do if he died. We told him we wouldn’t want to breathe without him. “But why?” he asked softly. “I would be with Jesus.”
He was there in the hospital room with Meagan, in the worst moment of our lives, when the presence of Jesus was as real as the grief. Heaven bent low and met us there.
He was there on the windowsill of Michael’s room. While packing his things, I found a rock Donna had carved before the wreck. One side said “In God We Trust.” The other said “Stay Strong.”
And He was there at the scene. When Donna woke, she told us, “The old life is gone. This is a new life. I saw Jesus, and He said we are to be His disciples.” Later, in her wheelchair, she returned to that road, pointed across it, and said, “He was standing right there.”
The Years After
I won’t tell you it got easy. Grief doesn’t end with the funeral. I fell into depression and drank hard. I took my eyes off the Lord for a time. The years that followed brought panic attacks, money troubles and the end of my marriage.
But even in my distance, God never took His eyes off me. I am still here because of what He has done, not because I am strong.
Why This Project Exists
The Already There Project was born from loss, rebuilt through faith, and carried forward by one truth: God is present long before we arrive at our darkest moments. It exists to honor the lives of Michael and Meagan, to share the testimony God entrusted to me, and to reach anyone who feels alone, forgotten, or overwhelmed by the weight of their own story.
We seek to point people toward Jesus, encourage faith through music and ministry resources, make room for prayer and testimony, and build a caring community where people can connect and grow.
If you are walking through darkness right now, here is what I learned in the darkest places a man can walk: He hasn’t forgotten you. He hasn’t abandoned you. He hasn’t missed a single tear.
He’s Already There.
“And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.” — Deuteronomy 31:8 KJV
— Brian Scoggins