Navy Chaplain Paul Schumann speaks about finding comfort

Latter-day Saint and Navy chaplain Paul Schumann was walking home from the grocery store with his 2-year-old son, Isaiah, and 9-year-old Benjamin on March 10. Isaiah was in a stroller and Benjamin on a scooter.

While crossing the street, Paul noticed a truck driving toward them. He tried to shout but realized it was no use. The truck continued in their direction.

As Schumann lunged out of the street and pulled the stroller, Isaiah fell out and was run over by the truck.

The driver never stopped. He hit a sign, straddled the median and was later found at home.

Schumann picked up his son and held him close. Someone called 911.

Left, brothers Benjamin, Isaiah and Josiah Schumann. Isaiah died tragically on March 11, 2023, when he was hit by a truck.

In that heartbreaking moment, Schumann said he felt a heavenly prompting.

“I felt an impression that I needed to trust God,” he said.

How Schumann and his family coped with their son’s tragic death and found the hope and courage to carry on was the subject of Schumann’s remarks at the Chaplain Training Seminar of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Oct. 2.

The Schumann’s story was the inspiration behind the seminar’s 2023 theme, “The God of All Comfort,” taken from 2 Corinthians 1:3-4:

“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”