Hanna Luce, the sole survivor of a plane crash that killed four Oral Roberts University graduates, is still recovering from a skin graft surgery.
Ron Luce, Hannah’s father and the founder of Teen Mania, said the recovery process is painful. Hannah remains heavily sedated and on a ventilator. Luce expected her daughter to undergo one more skin graft surgery this week.
“I stayed the night in the room with her after her surgery, just to be with her, and she slept very well,” Luce said. “A few times she woke up, and of course with a breathing apparatus, she can’t talk. So, she’s trying to write notes, expressing what she needs or how we can help her.”
Luce expects to take Hannah back to Texas where she can continue rehab and physical therapy in a Dallas hospital. He thanked all those who are praying for his daughter, then offered some observations about the investment governments and research agencies have made in life-saving technologies and the time doctors have invested to administrate those technologies.
“People who don’t even know these patients value them so much that they would give their life’s work, their careers, their money, and their passion to save the lives of strangers,” Luce said. “And yet, so many people live without purpose and without making any kind of contribution. Even though their lives have been valued by others, they don’t value it themselves. They merely exist.”
As Christians, Luce said, the metaphor is clear: God so valued us that He made a huge investment to save and restore our lives. Then he asked a series of questions: Do we reciprocate? Do we value what He’s done in us to the point that we refuse to live a purposeless life? That we refuse to take that investment He’s made in us for granted?
“As I think about this, I’m inspired to live a life that is more worthy of the sacrifice and the value that was placed on me. We could never live up to the value that was placed on us, or the whole sacrifice that was given for us,” Luce said. “But at least we could attempt to live in a way that demonstrates our deep appreciation of the value God places on us. Our response should be to refuse to take this life for granted, but instead to live a life that makes a difference because we understand we were saved for a reason.”
