Initially, these three bodies of knowledge ran on parallel tracks in Bodnarczuk’s heart and mind. But over time, he has internalized, digested, and resolved the issues and conflicts that many people have between modern science and a sovereign-suffering God.

Thomas Dies
Mark is a husband to Elin Larson, and the father of Thomas Larson Bodnarczuk who is “forever 18” and at home with his Father in heaven. Thomas came home from work at 9:10 PM on Saturday, May 1, 2021. Mark and his wife Elin chatted with him about how things went at work and then he went to his room.
Thomas wanted to calm his fear and anxiety about the COVID-19 pandemic that quarantined him in his home, and other things that 18-year-olds care too much about in a world gone mad. He took what he thought was a prescription Xanax pill that he bought on Snap Chat for fifteen dollars. But it was a counterfeit pill that contained over three-times the lethal dose of fentanyl. He died in his bed at about 10 PM that night. Mark and his wife Elin found Thomas’ cold, lifeless body on Sunday May 2, 2021, when they went to wake him for their on-line church service.
“Thomas’ death changed the direction of my life – a process I describe in my memoir, Finding New Life After the Death of My Son. In a sense, I’ve switched roles with Thomas. Normally, children carry-on the legacy of their parents. But now I feel a sense of duty and calling to carry my son’s memory forward so that every time his name is mentioned, and someone is moved or changed by his story, Thomas still has a real impact on life.”
Mark also feels called to warn others about the dangers of the recreational use of prescription medications, and self-medicating in the age of counterfeit pills and fentanyl poisoning. With an estimated 250 million counterfeit pills in circulation in the United States, thousands of unsuspecting victims like Thomas are poisoned each year by this dark crime.
So, how does one survive the death of a child, and hold on to a deep, personal faith in a sovereign-suffering God? How does a grieving parent find a new sense of meaning and purpose in life without the physical presence of the child they love? Mark describes the process of surviving the death of his son, Thomas, of finding new life, and a vision for the journey home in his memoir, Finding New Life After the Death of My Son: Grace and Forgiveness in the Age of Counterfeit Pills and Fentanyl Poisoning. “I feel called to share my journey of inner healing and transformation, where God is using the seedbed of my grief, pain, and my loss-inflicted wounds to transform me into what Jung called a wounded healer. I don’t know where God is leading me on the rest of my journey home, but I refuse to squander the gift of pain and grief that Thomas’ death has given me.”