Death is hard to live with at any age. But when a teenager dies, just when life is so full of promise, the pain is wrenching. Mark and Cindy Smith know that agony. Their 17-year-old daughter, Malori Aslan Smith, was killed in a van rollover accident in Mexico on June 30, 2002 while on her 17th mission trip. But it was Malori's spiritually rich life that gave Mark and Cindy hope and the will to fulfill their daughter's ministry vision, guided by one of her favorite quotes:
What we do in life echoes in eternity.
Mark, founder of
Windows NT magazine and president of the company that published it, was highly driven in what he calls "Life One."
"Malori's death threw everything up in the air," he admitted. "I went from being the president of a company to measuring success by being able to go outside and get the mail."
Mark and Cindy quickly realized they had to make a choice: "Choose Malori's eternal perspective and move forward, or get lost in the 'life isn't fair' cycle and retreat in despair."
About a month after Malori's death, Mark woke in the night with a fresh calling to start an organization called Aslan's Army.
"At Malori's memorial service, many people said they wanted to take her place on the mission field," Mark recalled. "I believed God wanted to use my business skills to help young people fulfill the missionary call on their lives. To accomplish this, we created a non-profit organization called
Aslan's Army."
Initial funding for the ministry came from the proceeds of Malori's life insurance policy, and a month after Aslan's Army was conceived, Mark began reading Malori's journals.
"In one of her journals, Malori outlined the vision for a ministry she only dreamed about but one that had the same focus as Aslan's Army. For me, it was a confirmation from God," Mark said. "Cindy and I were called to make Malori's dream a reality. She had the vision, and I had the provision, so we made a good team. Setting up a 501C3 was easy for me. My skill sets and Malori's vision linked."
Aslan's Army, the unexpected ministry partnership confirmed by Malori's writings, was like a sweet kiss from Malori, her way of reminding Mark of yet another of her favorite quotes: It's good to have vision. So much hope for the future and satisfaction with the present.
By partnering with his daughter, Mark did find hope for the future and satisfaction with the present. He also found vision for his Halftime. Ironically the written wisdom of two more people guided Mark's next steps.
"A few months after Malori's accident, I was in a bookstore and saw the book
Halftime. I read that Bob Buford had lost his 19-year-old son in Mexico. He talked about being thrown violently into Halftime because of his son's death. I eagerly read the book, thinking
Bob, what have you learned that you could share with me? His advice 'don't completely throw out the old, use your skills as a bridge,' helped me to focus. Then Lloyd Reeb's book,
From Success to Significance, helped me to put steps to my Halftime, which was so intricately linked to Malori. After going through those steps, I wrote a personal mission statement:
to recruit and equip eternal investors. I want to live out Malori's belief that
what we do in life echoes in eternity - and I want to recruit others to live it out as well."
Along with leading Aslan's Army, Mark's Halftime includes helping others gain an eternal perspective about investment through his work with Vision Funders. The organization works with clients to craft spiritual, emotional, relational, and financial goals to help them achieve the eternal purpose for which God put them on this earth. (To learn more, visit
www.AslansArmy.com)
Mark believes Malori would applaud his efforts. Somehow 17-year-old Malori Aslan Smith understood that each day must be lived with an eternal perspective. The night before her death she told a fellow missionary: "If you have to die, wouldn't it be awesome to die on a mission trip serving God?" And in a postcard dated June 30, 2002, she wrote, "Today we saw 150 salvations in one afternoon . . . It's awesome changing the world. Told you I'd do it someday."
And Malori was right.