{"id":27028,"date":"2025-04-08T11:53:50","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T15:53:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=27028"},"modified":"2025-04-08T11:53:50","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T15:53:50","slug":"god-will-take-care-of-us-family-of-texas-athlete-murdered-at-track-meet-leans-on-faith-amid-heartbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/04\/god-will-take-care-of-us-family-of-texas-athlete-murdered-at-track-meet-leans-on-faith-amid-heartbreak","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;God Will Take Care of Us&#8217;: Family of Texas Athlete Murdered at Track Meet Leans on Faith Amid Heartbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_27031\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-27031\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2025\/04\/Austin-Metcalf_credit-Left-Fox-News-Right-Jeff-Metcalf.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27031\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2025\/04\/Austin-Metcalf_credit-Left-Fox-News-Right-Jeff-Metcalf.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-27031\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Fox News | Right: Jeff Metcalf<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The family of Texas high school football standout Austin Metcalf is clinging to their faith in God as they walk through unimaginable grief following his tragic death this week.<\/p>\n<p>Austin, a 17-year-old junior at Frisco Memorial High School, was fatally stabbed during a track meet Tuesday after a brief argument with another student, police say. The suspect, identified as 17-year-old Karmelo Anthony of Frisco Centennial High School, is now facing a felony murder charge and is being held without bail.<\/p>\n<p>Austin&#8217;s twin brother, Hunter, witnessed the horrifying attack. He said the tragedy unfolded within moments after Austin asked Anthony why he was in their team&#8217;s area. Hunter turned away briefly\u2014only to see his brother being attacked.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I tried to whip around as fast as I could,&#8221; Hunter told WFAA. &#8220;I looked at my brother, and I&#8217;m not going to talk about the rest. I tried to help him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Metcalf family, who attends Hope Fellowship Church in Frisco, is leaning on God for strength\u2014and praying through the difficult process of forgiveness.<\/p>\n<p>Wearing a cross around his neck during an emotional interview with Fox News, Hunter expressed his heartache. &#8220;It&#8217;s forgave, not forgotten, but I&#8217;m not at that point yet to forgive what that boy did to my brother. Eventually, I will. I pray for his family. I pray that they understand what we&#8217;re going through.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Austin&#8217;s father, Jeff Metcalf, has already made the courageous choice to forgive.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You know what, I already forgive this person. Already,&#8221; Jeff told KXAS. &#8220;God takes care of things. God is going to take care of me. God is going to take care of my family.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>However, Meghan Metcalf, Austin&#8217;s mother, said her heart is still too broken to offer forgiveness.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am not like their dad; I am so angry at that boy,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It&#8217;s just not fair.&#8221; Through tears, she urged parents everywhere to hug their babies tight because you don&#8217;t know if it will be the last time you do it.<\/p>\n<p>Austin&#8217;s death has rocked the city of Frisco, which was ranked the safest city in America just last year. Hundreds gathered at a vigil Wednesday night at Hope Fellowship Church to remember Austin&#8217;s life and pray for the Metcalf family.<\/p>\n<p>In what would be his final social media post, Austin shared a message of trust in God: &#8220;Faith that God got me \u2764\ufe0f and my work will pay off.&#8221; As of Friday, the post had been viewed more than 2.8 million times, a moving reminder of the young man&#8217;s deep faith.<\/p>\n<p>Two GoFundMe campaigns have already raised more than $280,000 to help the Metcalf family with funeral expenses and other needs.<\/p>\n<p>In the midst of heartbreak, the Metcalfs are holding fast to the hope that only faith can bring. As Jeff Metcalf said with confidence: &#8220;God is going to take care of us.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The family of Texas high school football standout Austin Metcalf is clinging to their faith in God as they walk through unimaginable grief following his tragic death this week. Austin, a 17-year-old junior at Frisco Memorial High School, was fatally stabbed during a track meet Tuesday after a brief argument with another student, police say.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":27031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&#039;God Will Take Care of Us&#039;: Family of Texas Athlete Murdered at Track Meet Leans on Faith Amid Heartbreak<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After losing their son Austin, the Metcalf family is clinging to faith, forgiveness, and God&#039;s promise to carry them through.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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