Loss of a Loved one

This is the Truth Network. I have a question for you. Very serious question actually. How do you handle the loss of a loved one? What if it's a child?

What if you lose a child? Well don't go away. You want to hear this remarkable story.

He became my personal savior. Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is set for one flaw. Introducing first, from Lithuania, he weighs 123 kilos, the Russian nightmare, Nikita Kolob. Now, the Devil's Nightmare. Welcome back to another episode of It's Time to Man Up. Welcome back to another episode of The Man Up Show. With me today, really a dear friend, a successful man in the marketplace, a successful dad, but more than anything, just a brother in the Lord.

Eric Bowman, welcome to The Man Up Show. Thrilled to be here with you, Nikita. Well, great to have you, Eric.

And I guess one thing I left out was the fact that you and your lovely bride, Kim, are part of our prayer team, as well as you've been major financial supporters to Kolob for Christ Ministries over the years, which I can't thank you guys enough for that as well. You have just become such dear friends. But our friendship goes way, way back, right? Yes, sir.

I believe we met initially, maybe 2010 or 2011, and then really got to know each other well in 2013 through now. And our initial meeting, because you've been involved, not to get off track here from our topic of discussion, but you've been involved in the wrestling industry, which is how we first met, weren't you? And I think you still are, like a commissioner of a small wrestling organization down there in South Carolina? Yes, sir. The three count pro wrestling.

I've been the quote unquote commissioner since about 2011. So I've been doing that for, we run about, you know, 10 shows a year. And it's just a local promotion. We go a few places here in the upstate and just really put on a good show on, you know, one Saturday night out of the month, $10 on a Saturday night. You're not going to, you ain't going to find any more, less expensive entertainment. Yeah.

For $10 of great family entertainment for $10. And I've been at a few of those shows. That's how we met. I was doing autograph signings and stuff there and a man commissioner since 2011, man. I hope they're paying you well. I'm just saying. Oh yeah, man.

I'm, I'm making a fortune. That was of course, tug in cheek right there. I know you do it just because of your love for wrestling. And of course you've been a fan of wrestling for, for many, many, many years.

But that, that open door led us to have in the, this really this great friendship. And as I mentioned, all the different ways that, that we have now connected and, and I have to mention, cause I want our listeners to know, you know, you're out in the marketplace. You run, um, you read some grocery stores down there, right? Yes.

I'm the store manager at the Ingalls, uh, supermarket in Powdersville, South Carolina. And you've been with them for quite a few years as well, as I recall. For the, for the most part, yes, since 2000, I left for a few years after I lost Emma, uh, but for the most part since 2003. Okay. And we're, and we're going to get to, we're going to transition to that story here in, in just a moment, uh, and talk about Emma. Uh, and, and I mentioned your lovely bride, Kim, and, but you also had, uh, there was a four year window of time there where, where I was able to brag on the fact that I got a friend who's a mayor, a mayor of a town.

That's right. When I, when I left Ingalls for that time, I did run for mayor of Liberty and was elected. Um, and then, you know, I served four years, uh, did not seek reelection because at that time, and we'll get into that too, as you know, when we're talking, but, um, God had blessed us with another little boy and he was, uh, he was just one, I think one or two. And I, I didn't want to, that, that is a, you know, a part-time job that doesn't really pay a lot. That's just something you do in a small town just because you love the town and you want to make a difference. You're not doing it for, you're not doing it for the money.

Uh, but it does take a lot of time and I just didn't want to take any, I didn't want to take any, any time away from him that I didn't have to. Yeah. You're a little newborn and, and, and, and you're right. I mean, typically, at least in the old days, you know, run, you know, an office like that, whether it's mayor or governor or anything on a larger scale originally was because you have a service heart and you want to give back, as you said, to your community or give to your nation. Uh, it seems like we've skewed away from that slightly and in some of these positions, uh, and or perspective, that's a whole nother show for another time. Um, but, but, uh, as mayor of Liberty, South Carolina.

Yeah. You know, it's, it's great hearing you say, is it wasn't about the pay. It was about me serving my community. And so, all right, so let's, let's, let's talk about Emma, you know, open the show and, and asked, uh, you know, pose the question, how do you handle the loss of a loved one? And, and many times, in fact, just recently, uh, my son-in-law, uh, unexpectedly lost his mom. And, uh, in fact, it wasn't just a few weeks ago, I was together with them and, and asking and inquiring, Hey, how's your mom? How's her health? How's she doing? Oh, she's doing great. And then boom out of the blue, like literally out of the blue.

Uh, this happened, that happened, emergency surgery, uh, cardiac arrest, and she went home to be with the Lord. And so things that, you know, unexpectedly do happen, right? Uh, some are more planned. In other words, you can maybe kind of mentally prepare, uh, spiritually prepare your heart for, for the loss of a loved one. And I've always heard, and I know you're going to dive deeper into this, Eric, that, you know, the loss of a child is, is even more difficult than the loss of a parent.

Uh, would, would you say that would be true? Nikita I've, uh, I, you know, I've lost, I lost my dad, um, in, in 2016, and I can tell you there's nothing, um, you know, you don't, if you're the right kind of parent, you know, there's nothing in the world that you love any harder or any deeper than your kids. And the best way that I can explain it is the depth of that love that you have for your kids. If you lose one of those kids, that's how deep that sorrow goes. So it's unexplainable, you know, to somebody that has never had a kid, the depth of that love. And I, I believe that it's unexplainable, the depth and the feeling of loss that you have when you're talking to someone who's never experienced that. And like I said, I'm not, I'm not discounting any, losing a loved one, no matter whether it's a parent, no matter whether it's a sibling. I mean, that, that's hard, but in my opinion, um, there's nothing, there's nothing any harder than losing a child. Well, and I know from, from our conversations and that, that there's really not a day that goes by that, that you don't think about Emma, and I know you're going to go on record as saying, and there's a day you look forward to being reunited with Emma. But let's, let's, let's talk about, cause as I mentioned just a moment ago, sometimes there's things you can plan for like, like, you know, you see a lot of these different, you know, a lot of videos and social media or different promotion or different organizations that, um, you know, whether a child's battling with, with, with cancer or some other, you know, debilitating disease or something of that sort, which, which you can kind of, in a sense, kind of plan for, uh, but yours was, was not planned for.

And if, uh, how, how, however deep you want to go, however much you want to share about the loss of Emma, take it away. So February 2nd, 2012, it was a normal, a normal day. Um, I got up, I got ready, I went to work and it was, everything was flowing through that day just as, just as, just as always. And Emma went to school that morning. Um, her and her brother Houston got out of school, um, came home.

Um, it was a mild day in February. Uh, we had had a lot of rain that previous week, so they were able to, uh, you know, go outside and play. And, um, Emma and her brother Houston went across the street up to the neighbors. They had a basketball goal and Emma would take her scooter up there. They had a circle driveway and Emma would ride that scooter from one side of the driveway to the other, and then go back up and, and, and keep doing that. And they were up there, um, maybe about an hour or so, and she told Houston that she was ready to go home.

And Houston said, I want to take a couple of more shots. And the way that house sits, um, that, that driveway on both sides is to a road and that road goes downhill. And then there's another road that runs, uh, the other direction.

And you have to cross that road to get over in our yard. And what Emma would do normally when she did this, she would go down that bottom of that hill. She would stop. She would look both ways. She would cross the, that road into the neighbor's driveway, and then she would go over into our yard that day.

I don't know, um, exactly what, how, what happened. I don't know if Emma thought there was not a car coming. Um, if Emma didn't, didn't hear a car, if Emma thought she was safe, I'm not sure what went through her little mind. Um, but she did not stop at that stop sign. She went, uh, or was crossing that road on her scooter and a car was coming, um, down the road and a car, a car struck Emma. And she was, um, hit, thrown from the scooter, probably 20 or 25 yards. And, you know, um, 911 was called. They, they came, they weren't on the side of the road. They, they rushed her to the hospital. I believe that, um, I believe that Emma was in Jesus's arms, you know, right on the side of that road. And, you know, I think back and, you know, that could have ended in so many different ways. You know, God could have sped that scooter up.

God could have slowed that car down. Um, but Emma had an appointment and, and her appointment came after only being on, on this earth for seven short years. And, um, there there's, you know, we all had that appointment and the big thing is, um, when that appointment comes, are you ready? Are you ready to stand before Jesus? And if you stand before Jesus and you can answer these two questions, what have I done with God? And what have I done for God? If you can answer those questions correctly, you're going to be okay for all of eternity. And if you can't, um, then you're going to, you're going to be one of two places, heaven or hell.

And if you can't, you're going to wind up in hell. But, you know, Emma, um, at age six had made a decision for Jesus. So Jesus already lived in Emma's heart. And, you know, for seven years, Emma brought, uh, laughter and she brought sunshine. Um, and you know, she, she was just a, uh, a beacon of light and energy. And, you know, at all those ball games that I was coaching Houston at, uh, she was in the stands and as we were down on the field doing a job, she was in the stands and she was working those stands. And she was, um, bringing, bringing laughter to people.

And she lived, she was, she was completely, um, completely full of life. And, you know, I minister to people now who have lost loved ones, who have lost children or who are just going through storms. And one thing that I tell them is it could always be worse. And then they respond back to me many times and say, well, not for you. Yours couldn't be any worse.

And I tell them, I said, well, I can give you two scenarios where this would have been worse. I said, one scenario is Emma could have been abducted off the side of that road. And even today, now in 2024 may not know where Emma's at, who's got Emma, what are they doing to her? Is she alive? Is she dead?

To me, that would be harder to deal with. I don't have to wonder where Emma's at. Emma was here.

And then in a millisecond later, she was in the arms of Jesus. And then another thing, you know, Emma, um, Emma had broken her neck and, you know, if, if Emma would have lived and I would have took care of her till the day that I died. Um, but that's not how I can imagine Emma in one of those wheelchairs where she can't move. And that's not how Emma would have wanted to live her life.

Um, like I said, I would have taken care of her, but that's, that's not what Emma would have wanted. So in those two circumstances, as far as I'm concerned, that would have been worse for me than the way that God worked it out. And, you know, God, um, to this day, I don't like it. I don't like these circumstances. Um, but, but I can tell you, God has used these circumstances over and over and over again to honoring, glorify himself. And ultimately, um, that's what I've tried to do for these past, uh, 12 years is just take the worst thing that you can be presented with in this life and try to find good in it.

And try to, try to honor and glorify the God who gives me the grace and who gives me the strength to live this life day by day. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Nikita Kolov here and I am excited. Did you hear the huge announcement, the big announcement?

Well, maybe it's a minor announcement. Anyway, Facebook, go look up my new fan page, Nikita Kolov Fans, and like it and follow today. Would your company, business, or you personally like to partner with me in supporting Kolov for Christ Ministries, the Man Up Show, and Man Up Minutes? Go to kolov.net and click the donate button.

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Go to www.kolov.net and donate today. Everyone has an appointed time. You used the word appointment. Emma had an appointment and she was seven years old. I'm reminded to the seven, you know, I guess, biblically is the number of completions.

So for Emma, you know, she completed her seven years on earth. And then something I really want to drive home for our listeners is something you said you believe. You know, there's two things, at least two things. Anyway, we're going to hear when every knee bows and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. And that is, what did you do with God and what did you do for God?

Now, we know, you know, the Bible is pretty clear. We can't work our way into heaven. It starts with surrender of the heart.

Salvation is a free gift and it starts with surrender of the heart. Emma made a conscious decision at age six to to to receive Jesus in her heart. So it's not age relevant. I have a friend who is 62 years old, Rocky Wagner, when he made that conscious decision to invite Jesus in his heart.

So it's not age relevant. It's when the Holy Spirit draws. Right. But so so let's so I want to really drive home those points and let's segue here to because this ultimately that there's I know there's numerous story, more stories than we would even have time for today. But this led to you writing a book. Let's talk about the book for a moment and then maybe we'll have time to share, you know, maybe one more story on how this has impacted somebody else's life.

So talk about the book. So, yeah, in May, in May of that same year, May of 2012, I started writing. And I just it for me, it was it was kind of a part of my part of my healing.

And I just felt like that. And I've always had an ability to write. But I never really thought about writing a book, but I never really had a subject that I that I felt like anybody would be interested in hearing. And now I feel like I had a subject. And so I wrote a book. I finished it in September of 2015.

So I worked on it for a few years whenever I had time. And and, you know, and could. But in the book is called Emma, her journey from here to heaven. And in the book, I start out with that day. And that chapter is titled What a Day May Hold.

And I started out with that day and I described a little bit, you know, just what I told you. And from that, I segued into, you know, myself and Kim before we before we had kids. And so you start out with that chapter. That first chapter is hard. And this is a tearjerker. And then you go and you talk about me and Kim when we met, when we got married.

And there's some humor in that. And and then there's a chapter on Houston. And then there's a couple of chapters on Emma as a baby and then Emma on the little girl that she had become. And and then I then I go back and I talk about being in the hospital and just the outpouring of love and support. And then I talk about the funeral and, you know, the visitation, the funeral. We had twelve hundred people that came to her visitation. We had over a thousand people at her funeral. We know that six or seven received Jesus at that funeral that day. And, you know, to guide those six or seven souls would have been worth that.

And I'm thankful for that. And so we know of six or seven, maybe many more. And then I end the book at that time talking about where we were today.

Kind of an update on myself, an update on Houston, an update on Kim. And then, you know, my update on Emma was Emma was doing just fine, better than any of us. And Emma has has met Jesus and she's met John the Baptist and she's met Peter and Paul and Moses and all the people that we read about in the Bible. She knows all those people. And, you know, she wouldn't would not come back here if Jesus went to Emma right now and said, you know what?

Your mom and daddy, they really miss you and they want you to come back with them. Emma would say, no, I'll just wait on them right here, Jesus. And for you with open arms.

That's right. For me, it's been 12 years. We don't know how time is in heaven. It may be 12 seconds in heaven, but I just know and I'm thankful that Jesus made a way because he didn't have to write. But Jesus made a way that this life right here and it is but a vapor. This life right here is not the end.

There's a there's a much better day coming. And I tell people my my my first day in heaven. It's going to be so much better because not only do I get to meet Jesus face to face, but I have that that promise and I have that reunion of meeting back up with Emma. Well, and wow, I mean, it's an incredible perspective in and you made me think you're talking about the funeral. Thousand people in attendance, six or seven that you know of, you know, giving their life to Jesus. What I wrote down is turning tragedy into triumph. So what was a tragedy, you know, and Emma's death and your loss turned to triumph by six or seven or probably even more.

One day you'll you'll you'll certainly know how many more. Let me ask you, Eric, just real quick. How is Houston handle all this? Because obviously he was a part of the whole the whole experience.

How has he handled this? So I'm so, so proud of Houston. He was 11 years old and he watched that. Emma's Emma's last words were I'm going home, Houston. And then she did.

She went to her home. Right. He he watched that. And at that time, Houston was 11 years old. He was in the fifth grade. He was a straight A student.

He was very good basketball, baseball and football. And the only thing that we really had to gauge with Houston was what what what can we see? Is he is he getting off track? And Houston never got off track. He stayed. He stayed focused and he ended up he never made to be anywhere anywhere in his all the way through high school.

He was salutatorian of his class. He excelled in sports. He started varsity catcher for four years in Liberty. He started varsity basketball for four years in Liberty. He never caused us a minutes problem. He never got into a lot of things that kids get into now to alcohol, to drugs, to getting some girl pregnant.

He never he never did that. He went on to Clemson University. His entire education at Clemson did all the scholarships that he earned cost me two thousand dollars for four years at Clemson.

Wow. He has zero student loan debt. He graduated last May.

Got a job as an environmental engineer in Greenville. And then he got married to a girl that he dated for three years. He got married last November.

Houston never talked about it a whole lot. But he knew that any time that he wanted to, we would talk to him. We would get him somebody to talk to. He internalized it and he processed it and got through it the best way that he could. But in every metric that you could look at, Houston, Houston just kept on going on the path that he was on. That's amazing.

And then and then eventually is and then God blesses you with another beautiful baby boy. Right. In 2016, we got blessed with Hudson. And I think our our house would have been very quiet with him when Houston went away to college. And Hudson has made sure that our house is not quiet. And he he does. He knows if daddy gets still, I'm going to doze off. So he makes sure when I get home from work, he's got the whole plan.

And we're we're very busy. So but he is a he is a blessing. He is a gift from God. And, you know, honestly, and I can't prove this, but I believe before wherever sent to our mother's womb, you know, God says, God says he knew Jeremiah before he was in his mother's womb.

And already our Daniel Prophet. Yep. I believe that before Hudson was sent to to Kim's womb, I believe that he met Emma because he came here and things. Come on. Things that he knows about Emma. Yeah.

Things that we never told him about Emma. He knows. Come on. I believe.

I believe he met him in heaven. Oh, my gosh. We're going to have to do another show. I'm just saying, yeah, we have to do another show because I know there's numerous stories.

You could talk before we run out of time. I know you you've traveled to many churches and organizations and made yourself available to be able to share some of the stories and and how God has healed your your your heart. Kim's heart, Houston's heart, you know, from this tragic loss and then blessed you with this new little baby boy. A journey from here to heaven. So two things. Where can people get the book? Let's talk.

Tell tell our listeners that before we run out of time. Where can people get the book? OK, so, yeah, you go to Amazon dot com. You can order that book there.

Also, if you're in around Piedmont, South Carolina, you come in angles now to send you a copy. It's more of a ministry. And I do want to say, too, I started in November of twenty two, the Emma Bowman Foundation. And through that award last year, I gave two scholarships to seniors at Liberty High School for twenty five hundred dollars apiece. And then at Christmas time, I blessed five children with Christmas through that foundation that would have otherwise not gotten a Christmas. And my motto for my foundation is helping kids remember an Emma, giving God the glory. And the Emma Bowman Foundation, I don't have a website yet, but there's a Facebook page that you can go look at and see what we're doing on that.

Helping Emma, giving God all the glory. Eric Bowman, B-O-U-G-H-M-A-N, Eric Bowman. Go look him up on Facebook if you feel prompted to give to this foundation so that he can scholarship young young folks to college and Christmas presents and gifts.

Go on Amazon. A journey from here to heaven. Eric Bowman.

Go and get a copy of this book. Help support Eric that way. And so many powerful stories. We've run out of time, but so many powerful stories. And Eric, you are available.

I just want to be clear. You are available if a pastor's listening out there or an organization, a director would want you to come in. You are available to come and just share some of these stories and help heal the hearts of others who've lost loved ones, correct?

Yes. Can I give you my email address? Give your email address so people can get a hold of you.

So it's E-B-O-U-G-H-1-9-7-1 at AOL.com. And yes, I'll be glad to come speak. And like I said, I just want to let, I want to let Jesus shine through me. And for all you out there, listen, consider that. Consider bringing Eric in. And I want to assure you one thing. If you've listened to Eric's story today, here's what you can be assured of. I feel confident when I say this. As he shares, there will not be a dry eye in the audience.

I'm telling you right now, you probably already heard him getting choked up as he was talking about his story. A Journey from Here to Heaven. Eric Bowman, thank you for being a part of the man up today. Thank you, Nikita. I love you, my friend. Give Kim a hug and a kiss for me, all right? I will.

All right. And thank all of you for tuning in, being so faithful week in and week out. My challenge to you today is go out and live a God-filled, God-blessing day. This podcast is made possible by the grace of God and your faithful prayers, support, and generous gifts.

May God bless you for your continual contributions. Go to kolof.net and donate today. If you are enjoying the Man Up Show, would you help us spread the word? Tell your family, tell your friends, tell your neighbors to download, subscribe, and leave a comment. Hi, Nikita Koloff.

Be sure to check out the Man Up Show, now available on television, broadcast, and podcast. Go to MorningStarTV.com or the Truth Radio Network. Check out your local listings or better yet, download the Truth Network app today. Nikita Koloff here.

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