After Helicopter Crash, Widow Leans Into Trusting God

On a late November morning, Jillian Myers’ life changed forever when her husband Jason, a local TV meteorologist, died in a helicopter crash. 

In the wake of the crash, Jillian’s faith in Jesus carried her through the lowest point in her life. “I’ve surrendered what I never would’ve freely given. And a lot of it is coming from a deep place of trust and recognizing that Jason was the gift God gave me.”

Hear more of the couple’s story on this episode of GPS: God. People. Stories.

You can connect with us through email at gps@billygraham.org or on Billy Graham Radio on Facebook. 

Transcript

MUSIC STARTS

Jillian Myers:
00:00:01 It’s sheer terror. It’s just not ever what anyone … expects. I just had no idea that when my husband left that morning, that it would be the last time that I would see him, the last time I would talk to him.

Phil Fleischman: Jillian Myers is the wife of Jason Myers. Jason was a meteorologist who died in a helicopter crash in Charlotte, North Carolina. You’re going to hear more of this couple’s story—and tremendous faith—on this episode of GPS: God. People. Stories. It’s an outreach of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. I’m Phil Fleischman, sitting in for Jim Kirkland.

Throughout his ministry, Billy Graham often talked about the terrible sorrows of this life.

Billy Graham:
00:00:45 The Bible teaches that we’re going to confront harsh realities, and man by himself is limited. How are we going to handle it?

Phil: You’ll hear Billy Graham give the answer to that question a little later in the episode, but if you’d like to find out sooner, just visit us at FindPeaceWithGod.net. We’ve got Biblical answers to questions about life and death at that site. The address again is FindPeaceWithGod.net. Now, if you’d rather talk with someone, then you can call the 24/7 Billy Graham prayer line. The number is 855-255-7729. Or, an easier way to remember it, maybe, is 855-255-PRAY.

Before we share more about the Myerses, we’d love for you to take a moment and subscribe to GPS: God. People. Stories. That way, you will never miss an episode of people’s tremendous faith stories. 

Intro: GPS: God. People. Stories.
MUSIC TRANSITION

Jillian:
00:01:50 I have fond memories of my childhood and definitely, my husband was part of that, which is a beautiful thing. I love that we can really say that we spent our lives together.

Phil: She can say that because Jillian Myers was just a baby when her family started attending the same church as her future husband, Jason. It was in Mineral Springs, North Carolina—just about 30 miles outside of Charlotte. 

Jillian:
00:02:12 We grew up to be best friends. Our brothers were best friends. Our families were really close. He was my first crush.

Phil: But, when Jillian was 9 or 10 years old, Jason and his family moved away. Still, their families stayed in touch. And during that time, Jillian made a very important decision.

Jillian:
00:02:30 I went to Camp Tekoa as a teen and I remember the invitation being given and my heart being stirred by the Lord and I remember accepting Christ and surrendering my life to Him.

Phil: Both at church and in the home, Jillian’s parents had taught her what it looked like to have a relationship with God, and she wanted that for herself. Faith in Jesus would be a guiding light in the upcoming years of her life—and in Jason’s.

Jillian:
00:03:00 When I graduated from high school, we sent his family a graduation announcement and that was perhaps the first time he ever took notice of me and thought, You know, I really should get to know her.

Phil: Jillian and Jason were about to be at neighboring colleges from one another. Jillian would be at Meredith College and Jason at North Carolina State University.

Jillian:
00:03:21 It was really my plan to go to college and experience all the things that I had never experienced because I hadn’t dated, hadn’t been to parties, hadn’t done all those things in high school. And I thought, this is my opportunity.

Phil: But Jillian’s idea didn’t quite turn out as she planned.

Jillian:
00:03:38 God in His goodness truly brought us together right when I got to college. And it was orientation week, I show up at this date with this someone else. And this someone else introduces me to his Bible study group leader, which is Jason, and so pretty much from that point on we were dating, and we were serious about one another. And that’s really where the romance began.

Phil: And romantic it was. Jason thoughtfully curated their dates—from picnics to concerts and fine dinners. 

Jillian;
00:04:11 I’m pretty sure even though he was an RA at college and had an RA salary, it all went to our dates, which was amazing and wonderful, and I feel like in many ways that was when we lived our honeymoon period.

Phil: The couple married on May 10, 2003. It was the summer before Jillian’s senior year. Shortly afterward, they became pregnant with their first baby. 

Jillian:
00:04:34 That was a very accelerated timeline and God knew what He was doing, and in our hearts we’re committed to being married. The following May was my first Mother’s Day and my college graduation.

Phil: Jason wasted no time in helping care for his young family.

Jillian:
00:04:51 He really rose to the occasion of being a provider and all the while was loving me in every possible way and coming alongside and helping. His first job outside of college besides working part-time at UPS was being a weather observer at the Raleigh-Durham Airport. He worked at the tower forecasting and observing weather for the incoming airplanes.

Phil: Jason’s next job moved them to Texas as he chased his childhood dream of becoming a broadcast meteorologist. During that time, Jillian was a full-time mom and she had their second child. 

Jillian:
00:05:26 It was quite an adventure. We were there for 18 months. After Texas, he had an incredible opportunity to move us to Chesterfield, Virginia, just right outside of Richmond, and we were there for eight years. 

Phil: While they were in Virginia, the Myerses added two more children to their family. Then, they moved to Kentucky for another job before God opened the doors to Jason’s dream career at WBTV in Charlotte, North Carolina. That move happened in 2019. 

Jillian:
00:05:54 A big part of that job that I think people perhaps underestimate is that you are on the front lines of relaying important information to people. You are part of helping save people’s lives. You’re part of helping protect them. And he was always a people person and he always treasured people and that’s why he loved being part of the community and was involved in so many different community events—that was a tremendous part of having a news personality. So he was both—he was a scientist and so great at reading the data, communicating the data, but also so great in knowing and investing in people.

Phil: More than anything, though, Jason invested in his family. From launching a father-son group and mentoring other dads to intentionally going on daddy-daughter dates, he was fully present in his kids’ lives. 

Jillian:
00:06:44 He was excellent at everything that he did. He was awarded an Emmy for tremendous coverage that he did on the St. Jude Dream Home, raising money to help save children’s lives for St. Jude. He was exceptional at his career, but beyond that, he was an even better husband and father, and he showed our children what it looked like to love me and to love me well. 

Phil: Before Jason’s tragic passing, he and Jillian made time for regular date nights. 

Jillian:
00:07:14 The last month that we were together was really beautiful. We went hiking together, just the two of us. We tried to take our kids; they all kind of bailed on us so it ended up being the two of us, and we got to go hike to waterfalls. We loved being outdoors, so that was a sweet gift. We actually had retraced our steps because my daughter had a soccer tournament, so we found ourselves back where we got engaged at Duke Gardens. So we had some really incredible date nights that last month that we were together.

Phil: But on Nov. 22, 2022, everything changed. That morning, Jason had made sure—as he always did—to find everyone in the house and tell them goodbye before he left for work.

Jillian:
00:07:55 The day of the accident, we were probably about 15 minutes from getting in the car and leaving the house.

Phil: Jillian and several of her kids’ friends were headed to volunteer at Operation Christmas Child for Samaritan’s Purse, a sister ministry of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. It was something the Myers family did every single year.

Jillian:
00:08:15 We were about to leave and I got a message on my Facebook Messenger. And a friend of mine just said, I’m so sorry. I saw that the Sky3 chopper went down and I’m just so sorry. And when she said that she meant someone from the news station was in that, and I’m just so sorry, you must have known that person, because it wasn’t released at the time who it was. 
Phil: Jillian didn’t have the news on, and she had not yet put two and two together that it was her husband who was in the chopper that day.

Jillian:
00:08:52 So, I checked his Life360 and saw that his location was sure enough at the crash site, and he wouldn’t answer his phone and wouldn’t respond to any text messages. I call the TV station and I’m put on hold for a really long time. Then I’m told that I’ll get called back and I get a call back and I still don’t get any answers. My question is: Was my husband on board?

Phil: All they would tell Jillian was that the police were coming to her house.

Jillian:
00:09:25 It’s sheer terror. It’s just not ever what anyone … expects. I just had no idea that when my husband left that morning, that it would be the last time that I would see him, the last time I would talk to him.

Phil: In the time that Jillian waited for the police, her heart already knew what they were going to say.

Jillian:
00:09:51 The police show up and along with them a chaplain—that’s the day our whole world changes, right? And we’re delivered the most devastating news, and our lives haven’t been the same since.

Phil: Jason Myers passed away at just 41, along with Sky3 Pilot Chip Tayag. [pronunciation: Tie-yag]

Jillian:
00:10:12 Losing the love of my life has leveled me to a place that I’ve never been or experienced. The many realms that I now command as being a mom and as being a provider, as being a decision-maker, being their parent, being the one that runs the things, and takes care of the business, it’s the most humbling thing. And it’s tremendously hard to do when you’re broken, when you’re shattered; it’s exposed in me just how much a source of joy our love and relationship was because it empties you of yourself. There’s no amount of picking myself up by my bootstraps that can take place.

Phil: Jillian found herself just living day by day while navigating grief with her children and extended family. 

Jillian:
00:11:06 That’s when all the Scripture that was sown into my life as a child becomes the soundtrack in your mind and in your spirit. That’s when the years of investing in a Gospel-believing community circles back. That’s when the community of believers that we had surrounded ourselves with and poured into came around me and my family and surrounded us in very tangible ways. 
Phil: That community included the family’s pastors who came to their home and prayed with them. People who brought food. Others who came to walk and take care of their pets. One of Jillian’s friends is a writer and offered to help her write Jason’s eulogy.

Jillian:
00:11:50 When you’re walking through the heavy fog of grief, you don’t have clear decision-making, you don’t have executive functioning, you don’t have all those things—particularly initially when you’re walking through shock—to know what you need, to be able to communicate it.

Phil: As Jillian struggled just to form sentences, she wondered what Jason’s end-of-life wishes were.

Jillian:
00:12:16 You don’t have that conversation when you’re 40. No one expects that they’re making those plans. I’m trying to put aside all the questions I have of how could this happen and wanting answers and—with meeting practical needs, with comforting children, with, OK, how are we going to make ends meet? Do we have to sell the home? These are questions my kids are asking, but yet I’m just trying to, OK, well, the very next step is to just figure out, Well, how do we honor your dad well? How do we do this well?

Phil: To his family, Jason was more than a news personality. He was loved for who he was to them.

Jillian:
00:12:53 He was Dad; he was my husband; he was my lover. So it’s very hard that it’s playing out in the public eye, yet that is the platform that he had, and it’s an incredible opportunity to share the hope that we have in Christ. 

Phil: In the days and weeks surrounding the funeral, Jillian relied on God’s strength to carry her through and to help her be a faithful witness for Christ.

Jillian:
00:13:21 It’s very hard to understand how God could see fit to bring more glory out of his passing than his living. So I have huge questions, yet my whole life has been shaped by my faith in Christ. And while I can’t give answers and I can’t give any reasons that I will be satisfied with, there’s just this thing that happens when you surrender your life to Christ. When we dedicate our babies and we surrender them to the Lord, and when we pledge our union to our covenant spouse, I don’t think we realize that those children and that that spouse, they aren’t ours, they don’t belong to us. And, I know I’m realizing it in a very different way now because I’ve surrendered what I never would have freely given. And a lot of it is just coming from a deep place of trust and recognizing that Jason was the gift God gave me. 

Phil: Jillian and Jason were married almost 20 years, but they experienced a lifetime together.

Jillian:
00:14:28 And I am so grateful for that. And the way that this has all happened should not have been. It is such a broken world that we live in. And I grieve what I no longer enjoy and what I no longer have. And it’s a very, very traumatic place to be, but … I have seen God equip me and come alongside me and give me the strength and the sustenance that I’ve needed to do just what He’s called me to do, which is being the best mom I can be to our children, and continuing the legacy that my husband had of sharing the love of Christ through relationships with people.

Phil: Sharing the love of Christ—Jillian knows that’s exactly what Jason would want her to do.

Jillian:
00:15:14 I can trust that Jason is whole and that he is new and that he’s experiencing the fullness of God’s love where he is and he’s in a perfect place. And so, coming from that knowledge of knowing that Jason knew Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior, I can trust, that because he is realizing the fullness of that, that I can walk in faith in this life that God will come alongside because He has to, because I’m not enough. I’m not enough to be the mom to our children. I’m not enough to fill all the voids that have been left. I don’t have the capacity in myself to show up in all the spaces, and God will be faithful because He has to, because He is orchestrating all of this ultimately for His glory and for our good.

Phil: Even so, Jillian still has questions.

Jillian:
00:16:11 I struggle with the Scripture that talks about how God is working out all things for our good, for those that He’s called according to His purpose. So how do I reconcile that with a situation and circumstance that feels anything but good? And so ultimately, because this doesn’t feel good to me, I’m trusting, Well, God is not done, He is still working in this. 

Phil: While processing all of that, Jillian has found herself drawing closer to Christ and understanding His love for her in a new way.

Jillian:
00:16:40 Because God knows personally what it feels like to lose His Son. He knows personally what it feels like to be crushed. And so I feel a closeness. I feel more conformed to the likeness of Him—and that’s ultimately the goal is to be conformed in His likeness. So that is what’s coming alongside me, I think, in giving me the ability to be able to speak freely from a place of brokenness and from a place of ‘I don’t have this figured out, and I’m walking day by day.’

Phil: As Jillian has watched her children live out their faith and as they process their grief with her, she’s been so thankful to see the legacy her husband left behind.

Jillian:
00:17:26 I’m seeing the fruit of the seeds that my husband and I and our parents before us sowed into their lives. The seeds of feeding them the Word of God, making it a daily part of our home, because, again, that has become the soundtrack in their own minds, what they’re listening to, what they’re hearing, those words are coming full circle in their most vulnerable moments, and I have seen each and every one of them choose on their own to follow the Lord and surrender their lives to Him. 

Phil: That alone has been a tremendous comfort for Jillian as a parent. Jillian has discovered that even in the midst of her loss, there is much for which she can be thankful.

Jillian:
00:18:09 In my own story, I believe that what was beautiful is there’s been this lifelong anthem of just how God has been good. And while I can’t see the goodness in what happened on Nov. 22, I can point to the goodness of God and the community of people that have surrounded us in His goodness and bringing to mind and calling to mind His Word that I hid in my heart at a young age; His goodness in bringing me to the very right spouse and whose parents are still loving me, and the community of people that my husband invested in and grew to know and love that have in turn loved our family and carried us through this time. And so I can point to that goodness, and I can look back at the goodness of God in bringing my husband into my life and bringing him into my life from a young age.

MUSIC TRANSITION

Phil: Because of her relationship with Jesus Christ, Jillian Myers is able to experience a deep-rooted peace in the midst of devastating grief. Jesus will give you that same peace and hope. We can tell you more about it. Visit us at FindPeaceWithGod.net. That’s FindPeaceWithGod.net. Or, if you’d rather pray with someone on the phone, call us any time of the day or night at 855-255-PRAY. That’s 855-255-7729.

In just a moment, Jillian shares some of the tangible things that have helped her deal with the loss of her husband. … Things you may find helpful if you or someone you know has lost a loved one.

Voice-over: You’re listening to GPS: God. People. Stories., a podcast production of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

MUSIC STARTS

Billy Graham:
00:20:10 Now God does not remove the troubles and the difficulties in life.
Voice-over: Billy Graham …

Billy Graham:
00:20:15 The Bible teaches that we’re going to confront harsh realities, and man by himself is limited. How are we going to handle it? Because there comes a time when we all suffer. But in the midst of whatever it is, Christ is with you if you know Him. He said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” ‘No matter what you’re facing, don’t be troubled, don’t be afraid. I’ll give you My peace.’ But in the midst of the storms of life, which are always going to rage, there’s the peace of God if you have peace with God. That’s yours.

Phil: You can discover more about the unshakeable peace that God offers you by going to FindPeaceWithGod.net. That’s FindPeaceWithGod.net. 

Our guest on this episode of GPS: God. People. Stories. is Jillian Myers. She’s a follower of Christ, a mom of four, and a kindergarten teacher who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. Two years ago, Jillian became a widow when her husband, Jason, was killed in a helicopter crash while working as a TV meteorologist. We asked Jillian what kinds of things have helped her in the aftermath of Jason’s death.

Jillian:
00:21:38 I think that things that have helped me the most as I’ve walked through this journey has been certainly having counseling, certainly opening the Word of God and recognizing that, you know, ‘God, You have to do a work here,’ recognizing my dependence on Him, being plugged into a Gospel-teaching community is tremendous, and being willing to be vulnerable with people. Perhaps one of the most helpful things besides counseling and besides being engaged in my church and besides being in the Word was having a financial adviser and also having someone walk through all the decisions that needed to be made. 

Phil: We are tremendously grateful for Jillian Myers’ willingness to share the realities of her experience and unimaginable grief—everything from the practical advice you just heard there to learning how to trust God and stay focused on His goodness on a daily basis. 

Here’s a quick favor to ask. If you were touched by this episode, would you think about someone you know who might also benefit from hearing this story, and then share it with them? Also, would you consider leaving a review of GPS on your podcast app? It really helps more people find out about the podcast.

I’m Phil Fleischman, sitting in for Jim Kirkland. Thank you for listening to this episode of GPS. God. People. Stories. It’s an outreach of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association—Always Good News.

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