|
In our congregation we have some amazing people, through whom God is doing amazing things. We will start to share some of their stories, both as part of our services and also on this page. As we hear and read these stories, we can thank God for the ways he works through us today.
|
|
|
Melissa McGuiness : You Choose - Youth Road Safety
For those of you that don’t know me my name is Melissa McGuiness. I’m married to Peter and the mother to Jordan, Montana and Kitty.
On December 8th 2012 my 18 and a half year old Son Jordan was responsible for an accident on the M1 at Coomera that no only claimed his live, but claimed the lives of four innocent young adults, left another young adult with severe brain trauma and also left a 15 month old little girl orphaned as both her parents were in that car. As you could all but imagine, this accident completely devastated my and my family and bit by bit we’ve managed to navigate these waters of what our new normal looks like. |
Not only did I have to grieve my son, but I had to reconcile myself with what his poor choices resulted in. Jordan drank drove and took some drugs that night and irresponsible chose to drive.
Jordan was a good kid and this was completely out of character for him. He sadly made on poor choice and it resulting in destroying the lives of these four kids and their families.
Joining St Andrews has been instrumental for our family in finding peace and purpose in our lives again.
In 2017 Tracey Chase (also part of our congregation) invited me to share my story at a Police organised SAVE day at a high school here on the gold Coast. This involved sharing Jordan’s story with 500 senior students. The idea was to demonstrate to the students through actual lived experience what it look like for those you leave behind. To demonstrate how easily one stupid decision can impact so profoundly on so many families.
As a result of that day and with Tracey’s assistance, I decided to share this story with other Gold Coast schools. I quickly discovered that this message was being received loud and clear and this year alone I will have presented to 40 schools on the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Northern NSW and more recently Sydney.
In June of this year I appeared on the Today Show and both Peter and I have been fortunate enough to have the backing of the ABC Gold Coast (and that is thanks to Eunice Raymont) and A Current Affair.
There have been way to many coincidences that have allowed this program to get up and running and I truly believe there has been some divine intervention in getting me to to his point. This has to be God working through me.
The reason I wanted to share this part of my life with my church family is that I’m looking for support in helping to get this safety message wide. Pastor Andrew is assisting in getting me into all Lutheran schools. For those on facebook, I’d appreciate if you could ‘like/follow’ my page and share any posts that resonate with you.
If you have loved ones that are soon to be getting their L’s or P’s with your help I can talk at their schools. I generally need a parent referral.
If you are interested, our Gold Coast ABC radio interview will be aired tomorrow morning between 8.3 and 11 and I’m told the A Current Affair piece will be aired sometime this coming week. If you’d like the appearance of the Today show, this can be found on my You Choose facebook sight.
Thank you
Jordan was a good kid and this was completely out of character for him. He sadly made on poor choice and it resulting in destroying the lives of these four kids and their families.
Joining St Andrews has been instrumental for our family in finding peace and purpose in our lives again.
In 2017 Tracey Chase (also part of our congregation) invited me to share my story at a Police organised SAVE day at a high school here on the gold Coast. This involved sharing Jordan’s story with 500 senior students. The idea was to demonstrate to the students through actual lived experience what it look like for those you leave behind. To demonstrate how easily one stupid decision can impact so profoundly on so many families.
As a result of that day and with Tracey’s assistance, I decided to share this story with other Gold Coast schools. I quickly discovered that this message was being received loud and clear and this year alone I will have presented to 40 schools on the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Northern NSW and more recently Sydney.
In June of this year I appeared on the Today Show and both Peter and I have been fortunate enough to have the backing of the ABC Gold Coast (and that is thanks to Eunice Raymont) and A Current Affair.
There have been way to many coincidences that have allowed this program to get up and running and I truly believe there has been some divine intervention in getting me to to his point. This has to be God working through me.
The reason I wanted to share this part of my life with my church family is that I’m looking for support in helping to get this safety message wide. Pastor Andrew is assisting in getting me into all Lutheran schools. For those on facebook, I’d appreciate if you could ‘like/follow’ my page and share any posts that resonate with you.
If you have loved ones that are soon to be getting their L’s or P’s with your help I can talk at their schools. I generally need a parent referral.
If you are interested, our Gold Coast ABC radio interview will be aired tomorrow morning between 8.3 and 11 and I’m told the A Current Affair piece will be aired sometime this coming week. If you’d like the appearance of the Today show, this can be found on my You Choose facebook sight.
Thank you
