In The Pipeline:

Editor’s Note: This is the first of two columns following up on Christopher Hernandez, the local 17-year-old who was killed in a car accident last summer.

“It was 16 weeks ago today,” Chris Hernandez says quietly. He’s referring to the horrific day of his son Christopher’s accident. However, sitting with Chris and his wife, Dawn, the discussion is not sad. Naturally, it’s tinged with sorrow given the weight of the tragedy, but four months on, both parents focus more on the peace they feel, made possible by their rock-solid faith in God.

They talk about how the memory and spirit of their son motivates his friends, and they talk about the lessons their late son continues to teach them as they celebrate his life.

They also talk about the pain of having the awful event misreported and reshaped into sickening tabloid fodder by both a local newspaper and a Los Angeles TV station.

For the record, once and for all, from a full-page release issued by the Huntington Beach Police Department, “There is no evidence to suggest that the accident was a result of car surfing . . . The distraction of misinformation by several media sources has . . . exasperated the grief the family has had to endure.”

Got it? Yes, it was a tragic accident involving bad judgment by numerous parties. But, contrary to many “news” outlets, it was not “car surfing.” The vulture-like nature of the media today, along with the insensitive, anonymous jackals who take glee from posting vicious posts on various newspaper-supported blogs, are ugly parts of this modern world — but you can always beat them with facts.

I won’t dwell anymore on these parasites because it’s a personal rant and not at all what the Hernandez family wants. Rather, they want to focus on the positive; on doing what’s best for their family and Christopher’s legacy.

There’s also something else, though, and I must admit, I think what I’m about to share you may not ever forget — and it’s also something you may feel compelled to share with others.

Here we go.

Dawn, a doting, dedicated “mom’s mom,” is describing for me a primary source of her strength these days — it’s the signs she receives from her son — messages of strength that she feels in her soul are her son reaching out to her. Her husband describes the same profound experiences. They’ve already had many moments like this between the two of them. But they’ve also had experiences relayed to them by others about their son.

Michael, who asked that his last name be withheld, was a good friend of Christopher. The day of the accident, the buddies had their guitars out and were playing together — they even videotaped their performance. Michael’s dad, a Hernandez family friend, heard the music that day.

“It was beautiful,” he said. “The boys were locked in a moment with the music, in that spiritual way that musicians experience when everything is right.”

At the rosary service for Christopher several days later, Michael’s dad was incredibly moved.

“The deacon used very beautiful words in talking about Christopher,” he said. “He talked of guardian angels and Christopher still being here and it struck me, this talk of angels. That’s not something that’s ‘front and center’ in the Catholic church, or at least it’s not something I’m used to hearing a lot about, and I found it very interesting.”

The day of the funeral service, he was on his computer, looking up information on buying tickets. When it came time to make his search, the Ticketmaster website required that he input a series of random words as a security measure, as many of you have probably experienced yourselves.

But now it’s all but impossible for me to believe there’s anything random about it. You see, the two words that Michael’s dad was instructed to type in, on the day Christopher was laid to rest, at a time when he was feeling the pain of loss, while also focusing on the mystery of angels — the two words read: “beloveds Christopher.”

That’s right. “beloveds Christopher.”

He was so stunned that he created a screen capture so that the Hernandez family would be able to experience this magic of the moment.

Today, he still finds it hard to find the words to describe the moment.

“Maybe because I heard him play that music with my son a few days before, there was a connection. And maybe because he knew the pain his parents were in, he was just reaching out to me so that I could let his parents know he was OK. But it was like seeing a glimpse of heaven. It was Christopher reaching out and saying to all of us, ‘I’m here and I’m all right. Everything is OK.’ This was a glimpse of heaven.”

Of all the words that could have popped up in this process (many of which are usually either nonsensical or incongruous), it was “beloveds Christopher.” Take a deep, long moment and consider that.

This happened four months ago, and since then, there have been more enlightening episodes the Hernandez family has become aware of. There is a lot more to the journey, and as I said, this column will pick up the story next week. After all, we’re entering a season of faith, a word that defines the Hernandez family.

By the way, the tickets that Michael’s dad was shopping for when he was asked to type in “beloveds Christopher”? They were for the Angels.

Join me if you can at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Barnes & Noble in Bella Terra for a Huntington Beach/Orange County history discussion and book signing — signed books make great gifts, and my mom and wife will be baking.

CHRIS EPTING is the author of 14 books, including the new “Huntington Beach Then & Now.” You can write him at [email protected] .