When Heaven Calls a Young Father Home: How God’s People Become the Hands and Feet of Christ
Although tragedy and loss are common in this broken world, God never designed His children to walk through the valley of the shadow of death alone.
You were never meant to bear impossible burdens in isolation—you were appointed by God to be the embodiment of His love, the physical manifestation of His provision, and the living proof that His Church is not a building but a breathing, giving, sacrificing body that shows up when darkness falls.
This is not about charity. This is about Kingdom assignment.
When the Unthinkable Becomes Reality
If you’ve ever felt that gut-wrenching moment when you hear news so devastating that your breath catches in your throat, when your heart physically aches in your chest, when tears come unbidden because someone else’s tragedy has pierced through your own comfortable life—that is not random emotion.
That is the Holy Spirit breaking through your routine to position you for divine appointment.
Michael Kottke was 24 years old. Twenty-four. He should have been teaching his son to walk. He should have been celebrating first words and sleepless nights and all the beautiful chaos of new fatherhood. He should have been building a lifetime of memories with Lexi, his wife, his partner, his beloved.
Instead, a hunting accident—sudden, tragic, final—has left a 5-month-old boy named Maddox without his father and a young widow navigating grief so profound that most of us cannot begin to comprehend it.
Michael was the kind of man who lit up rooms with laughter. The guy who made those silly, off-the-wall comments that broke tension and brought joy. The husband. The father. The son. The friend.
And now he’s gone.
If every fiber of your being is screaming that this isn’t right, that this isn’t how it’s supposed to be, that a 5-month-old baby should have his daddy—you’re feeling exactly what God feels. That righteous anger at death’s sting, that holy grief over what sin has stolen from this world, that burning conviction that something must be done—that’s not weakness masquerading as compassion. That’s the Kingdom of God rising up inside you, demanding action.
The Lie That Keeps God’s People Paralyzed
Here’s what the enemy whispers when moments like this break into our awareness:
“What difference can I really make? My contribution is too small. There are bigger problems. Other people with more resources should handle this. I have my own bills to pay. I can’t save everyone.”
Compassion is not writing a check when it’s convenient. Generosity is not giving from your abundance when it costs you nothing. Kingdom stewardship is not waiting until you “have enough” to be the answer to someone else’s desperate prayer.
The widow’s mite wasn’t celebrated because of its amount—it was celebrated because of its sacrifice. Because she gave when it cost her something. Because she trusted God with her lack so He could multiply it into abundance.
When you stand before the throne of God, He will not ask you how much you accumulated. He will ask you what you did with what He entrusted to you. He will ask if you saw His image in the suffering and responded with His love. He will ask if you were His hands and feet when a young widow needed them most.
The Kingdom Strategy Hidden in Plain Sight
God has always used His people as the distribution system for His provision. Always.
When the Israelites needed manna, He rained it down—but they had to gather it. When the widow of Zarephath faced starvation, God sent Elijah—with instructions that required her participation. When 5,000 were hungry, Jesus multiplied loaves and fish—but the disciples had to distribute them.
God’s provision flows through God’s people.
This isn’t built on guilt or manipulation. It’s built on covenant faithfulness, sacrificial love, and the radical belief that when the Body of Christ functions as designed, no widow is left defenseless and no orphan is left without provision.
And when you build community God’s way—when you show up in the darkest moments with tangible help, when you sacrifice your comfort for someone else’s survival, when you become the answer to prayers prayed through tears at 3 AM—it doesn’t just change Lexi and Maddox’s immediate crisis.
It changes the eternal story being written about God’s faithfulness.
It becomes the testimony that Maddox will hear when he’s old enough to understand. “When your daddy went to heaven, and we didn’t know how we’d survive, God’s people showed up. They gave. They sacrificed. They proved that your Heavenly Father never abandons His children.”
That’s not charity. That’s generational Kingdom impact.
This Divine Appointment Isn’t for Everyone
Let me be clear: This isn’t for everyone.
This is specifically for those who have been awakened by the Holy Spirit to their role as Kingdom financiers. For those who understand that every dollar is a seed with eternal potential. For those who refuse to let the enemy’s lies about scarcity keep them from being extravagant in their generosity.
If you’re called to be a conduit of God’s provision—not a reservoir that hoards but a river that flows—then this moment is your divine appointment.
If you’ve been praying, “God, use me. Show me where You’re working so I can join You”—this is your answer.
If you’ve ever said, “I want my life to matter for eternity, not just for my comfort”—this is where theology becomes biography.
But if you’re looking for a tax write-off, if you need a emotional story to make you feel good about yourself, if you’re calculating what you’ll get in return—this isn’t for you. Keep scrolling. This assignment requires something deeper.
This requires Kingdom conviction.
What Happens When God’s People Show Up
In the next 30 days: Lexi will bury her husband. She’ll navigate funeral costs that shouldn’t exist for a 24-year-old. She’ll hold her baby boy and answer questions from well-meaning people while her world crumbles. But because God’s people responded to this divine appointment, she won’t face eviction notices on top of grief. She won’t choose between paying for the funeral and feeding her son. She’ll experience the tangible presence of God through His people, and that will be the lifeline that keeps her standing.
In the next 90 days: As the initial shock fades and the casseroles stop coming, when most people have moved on to the next crisis and Lexi faces the long, lonely road of single motherhood—the provision that’s being established right now will carry her through. She’ll be able to focus on healing, on bonding with Maddox, on processing grief without the added trauma of financial devastation. The Kingdom investment happening in this moment creates stability in the chaos.
For Maddox’s lifetime: One day, that little boy will ask about his father. And his mother will tell him about a man who brought laughter and light. But she’ll also tell him about the day tragedy struck—and how hundreds of people he’ll never meet showed up with love, with provision, with proof that God’s people don’t just talk about faith, they live it. That testimony will shape his understanding of who God is. It will become the foundation of his own faith. It will be the story he tells his children about the day his Heavenly Father proved faithful through earthly hands.
That’s generational Kingdom impact.
That’s what happens when you stop seeing giving as optional and start seeing it as assignment.
The Testimony That’s Being Written Right Now
I’ve watched God move through His people in ways that defy natural explanation. I’ve seen communities rally around the broken and prove that the Church is still the most powerful force on earth when we function as designed.
I’ve seen widows provided for. I’ve seen orphans protected. I’ve seen the enemy’s plans for destruction completely dismantled because God’s people refused to be passive consumers of inspiration and became active participants in transformation.
Every single time—every single time—those who gave sacrificially reported the same thing: “God, I give You all the glory. I thought I was helping them, but You used this to break something loose in my own life. You multiplied what I released. You proved Your faithfulness to me while I was trying to prove it to them.”
That’s how Kingdom economics work. You can’t out-give God. You can’t sacrifice more than He multiplies back. Not because giving is a vending machine, but because when you align with His heart for the vulnerable, you position yourself in the flow of His provision.
Addressing What You’re Really Thinking
“But I don’t have much to give…”
That’s exactly why you’re qualified. God doesn’t need your abundance—He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He needs your obedience. He needs your willingness to trust Him with your lack. The widow gave two mites, and Jesus memorialized her for eternity. Your $10, $25, $50—given in faith—carries more Kingdom weight than someone else’s $1,000 given from excess.
“How do I know this is legitimate?”
That discernment is the Holy Spirit protecting you, and it’s good. But let me redirect that question: Are you seeking reasons to obey or excuses to avoid? Michael Kottke was a real man. Lexi is a real widow. Maddox is a real 5-month-old who will grow up without his father. The need is verified, the family is real, and God is watching to see if His people will be real too.
“I’ll give when I have more…”
That’s the lie that has kept more Kingdom resources locked up than any other. “When I have more” becomes “when I’m comfortable,” which becomes “never.” God doesn’t call you to give from your future abundance. He calls you to give from your present obedience. And here’s the mystery: the multiplication happens in the releasing, not in the hoarding.
“What if my gift doesn’t make a difference?”
It already has. The moment you decided that someone else’s crisis mattered more than your comfort, Kingdom shift happened. Your gift—combined with dozens, hundreds of others who heard the same call—becomes the flood that overwhelms the enemy’s plan for devastation. Stop thinking like an individual. Start thinking like the Body of Christ functioning in unity.
Your Divine Appointment Is Here
I didn’t write this to manipulate you. I wrote it because the Holy Spirit won’t let me stay silent when God’s people have an opportunity to be the literal answer to a desperate prayer.
Somewhere, Lexi is holding Maddox and wondering how she’ll survive this. She’s praying prayers that hurt to pray. She’s asking God questions that have no easy answers.
And God, in His infinite wisdom, is orchestrating an answer that involves you.
Not because you’re special. Not because you have excess. But because you’re available, you’re willing, and you understand that Kingdom stewardship means being the hands and feet of Christ when it costs you something.
This isn’t a sales pitch. This is a Kingdom assignment.
The GoFundMe campaign that’s been established isn’t just a fundraising link—it’s a divine distribution point where God’s people can funnel His provision to where it’s desperately needed. It’s the mechanism by which your obedience becomes their breakthrough.
Here’s what I’m asking you to do:
Stop reading. Right now. Before you move on to the next email, the next social media post, the next distraction—respond to this divine appointment.
Go to this GoFundMe campaign that’s been set up to help cover Michael’s funeral expenses and provide support for Lexi and Maddox. Don’t overthink it. Don’t calculate what you can “afford.” Ask the Holy Spirit what He’s calling you to release, and then obey immediately.
$20. $50. $100. $500. Whatever breaks through your comfort zone and requires faith—that’s your assignment.
And then—this is critical—don’t keep this to yourself. Share it. Forward it. Post it. Become a Kingdom multiplier by inviting others into this divine appointment. Because Lexi and Maddox don’t just need your gift—they need your network, your influence, your willingness to be uncomfortably public about what matters.
The Eternal Weight of This Moment
Years from now, when Maddox is old enough to understand, someone will tell him the story.
They’ll tell him about the hunting accident that took his father too soon. They’ll tell him about the grief that nearly broke his mother. And then they’ll tell him about the day God’s people showed up.
They’ll tell him about the hundreds of people—most of whom never met his father—who gave sacrificially because they understood that Kingdom family means no widow stands alone and no orphan goes without provision.
They’ll tell him that in his family’s darkest hour, God proved faithful through human hands.
And that testimony will shape his entire understanding of who God is.
That’s what’s at stake here. Not just immediate crisis relief—though that matters immensely. But the generational narrative about God’s character that’s being written right now based on how His people respond.
Will Maddox grow up believing God abandons people in tragedy? Or will he grow up with living proof that God always provides, always shows up, always sends His people when crisis strikes?
You’re writing that story with your response to this moment.
This Is What Kingdom Looks Like
The Kingdom of God has never been about buildings, programs, or religious performance. It’s always been about sacrificial love made visible through radical generosity.
It’s about seeing someone in crisis and refusing to look away.
It’s about giving when it costs you something because you understand that everything you have is on loan from God anyway.
It’s about being so convinced of God’s faithfulness to you that you can be His faithfulness to someone else.
Michael Kottke’s death is a tragedy. But the response of God’s people can be a testimony.
A testimony that the Church still works the way Jesus designed it.
A testimony that God’s people don’t just consume inspirational content—they become the inspiration by showing up in the darkness with tangible help.
A testimony that will echo into eternity because it shapes how a little boy named Maddox understands his Heavenly Father.
You were created for this. Not for comfort. Not for accumulation. Not for safe, predictable religion that never costs you anything.
You were created to be the physical manifestation of God’s love in a broken world. To be His hands that provide, His feet that show up, His heart that breaks for the vulnerable.
This is your moment to live that calling out loud.
Because Lexi and Maddox need more than sympathy. They need the Body of Christ functioning as designed.
And you—right now, reading this—you’re part of that Body.
Act like it.
All glory to God, who uses broken people to heal broken situations. Who multiplies small offerings into abundant provision. Who never abandons His children, even when tragedy strikes.
May this moment mark the beginning of a testimony that will be told for generations.
To God be the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
