The answer is one we will never hear, not on earthly soil, but only in heaven when we timidly ask the Lord to explain what happened to Maria Chapman. Better yet, why does a great and loving Lord allow tragedy to befall His noblest knights?

Maria, a tiny five-year-old, was killed in Nashville Wednesday when her teenaged brother didn’t see her as he drove down the family’s long and winding driveway. Maria, who was playing with other children in the bright afternoon sun, was the daughter of sensational Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth.

Well, sort of.

Actually Maria was born in China and this is the hardest part for a simple mind to understand. The Chapmans are huge – I mean, legendary – in adopting kids who otherwise wouldn’t have a chance. The couple’s three youngest daughters, including Maria, all came from China, and, sometime when you want to rip your own heart in half, check around and find out what kind of future a female orphan has in China.

That is what compounds what I feel is the biggest heartbreaker to befall Nashville in years. You ask yourself “Why.” Why this man, whose voice has been lifted in praise of his Savior in a way he was just recently named to the Music City Walk of Fame? Why this child who had been seemingly granted one of the greatest reprieves in the whole world?

Listen to what a grief-stricken John Styll, the president of the Gospel Music Association, told the Nashville Tennessean on Wednesday night: “I don’t know anybody who loves his children more than he does. He is so committed to the adoption concept, and to lose one, no matter what the circumstances, is heart-breaking beyond all comprehension.

“He talks about his kids all the time. They are his life. His kids are more important to him than his music, that’s for sure.”

So as they bury little Maria this weekend, believe me when I say her untimely death will bring new focus on the Chapmans’ adoption ministry, Shaohannah’s Hope, and you can bet that when Chapman performs in the future, every concert will feature his “Change for Orphans” where his followers bring sacks of pocket change to donate to a local family’s quest in adoption, no matter what city Chapman is appearing.

Because of Steven Curtis Chapman’s huge following, the news about Maria will get banner headlines in People magazine, CNN and other news outlets. When it does, there will be further exposure of what the Chapman family has done to promote adoption and also the plight of the Chinese girls.

The Chapmans were introduced to the Chinese orphanages when they did mission work there several years ago.

"After our first trip to China, my wife and I knew our lives were changing - our eyes and hearts were opening to how big God really is, and we have wanted to experience more of that," Chapman was quoted on his website via an Associated Press story yesterday.

"We've really wondered whether or not we should just go to China and stay there,” the story said. “But I don't think so. I believe God is saying, 'I want you to go, get your heart broken, your eyes opened, and then take this story back to the church in America and around the world."'

That’s how big Steven Curtis Chapman is. That tells why his three youngest are, in fact, Chinese girls. But it doesn’t explain why God, being honored in such glorious fashion, allowed Wednesday’s tragedy. It doesn’t make sense to those of us unable to grasp the word “Why?”

The far bigger thing, of course, is that the Chapmans are much too strong in their faith for such an unnecessary question. This weekend, when they and their five remaining children lay little Maria’s body to rest. I’ll predict a glowing exhibit of raw faith that will be unlike any ever witnessed in Nashville. Stand back and watch because each of them knows this to be true - “If God brings you to it, God will get you through it.”

Steven Curtis Chapman’s songs – which have won over 50 Dove awards – each tell about Jesus in a most convincing way and Maria, the little girl from China, is surely rocking today in the very arms of the Master Himself.

Steven Curtis Chapman himself taught all of us that long before Wednesday’s accident.

That is the way the glory of God really works.

royexum@aol.com