I don’t understand.  It is hard for me to fathom that as I sit at the piano in the rehearsal room, I can look out at the 60+ kids holding their music and practicing and think that one of them will be shot and killed by a former KKK Grand Dragon at the young age of 14. That isn’t in my realm of reality. That is a scene from a movie, a chapter from a book of fiction, a nightmare that should be forgotten at daybreak.

But it isn’t a scene from a movie or a chapter of fiction. It IS in this realm of reality, because we live in a broken world. It DID happen to one of those who sat in that rehearsal room. No one is immune to violence and evil.

I am grateful for my devotions this morning from Luke 21 and grateful for this message included:

…Holy Week is not a perfunctory set of days on a calendar. Holy Week is living testimony. It prepares us with the assurance that in the middle of our darkness, the light of the world is at work.

“Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” Luke 21:28. 

The testimony of Holy Week is that darkness does fall – but we must turn our eyes to the light that is coming on Sunday. Jesus is the LIGHT that wins out over darkness forever and ever. Amen.

I am grateful for the reminder today of the skit my choir kids used to do with candles and the song, “This Little Light of Mine.” Four or five students would stand side-by-side on the stage, each holding a lit candle, singing the song. One at a time, they would be overcome with temptation, or doubt, or shame…and they would blow their candle out and bow their heads. When the last student was left with a lit candle and was in danger of being affected by the “world,” he/she would begin to sing louder and louder, and then lit the candle of the next classmate, who would then join back in and sing, sharing the light with the next classmate, until they were all letting their light shine once again, singing loudly and without shame. It always gave me goosebumps and brought tears to my eyes. A very effective message…

I am grateful, that in the midst of tragedy, there is reason to hope.

I am grateful, that in the midst of tragedy, there is good to be found. It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming.

I am grateful for tragic events like this that slap me in the face and make me realize how much more I should be grateful, that life is too short, and I never know how much time I have, so I cannot hold back in telling those I love how much I love them.

I am grateful to have a relationship with Jesus. I cannot imagine facing tragedy with no hope.

And I am once again grateful for the message my pastor brings every year at this time:  The worst thing is never the last thing.