a child of God...

If you know anything about Steven Curtis Chapman and his family, you know about Love. Every concert of his that I have ever been too, revolves around his family. His wife and kids are everything to him...

Yesterday, they lost Maria,, their 5 year old daughter. She was run over by their teenage son in the driveway of their home. Something that is impossible to fathom. They have some dark days ahead of them so please remember them in your prayers - their family website will give you an idea of the Love this family shares.

As I was getting ready for the day this morning, they were heavy on my mind. I was also thinking ahead to the funeral I was going to this afternoon. Some might say that Pastor Orv had some good 67 years here but that is not the measure of a child of God. Maria just celebrated her 5th birthday 10 days ago - in our humanness we would all agree, her time should have been longer.

This is my point - even as we have traveled Down This Road with Angie and Audrey Caroline, with Pastor Orv and now Maria, there has to be some kind of celebration on some level that these precious children of God are now with Him. This isn't an either/or situation. You can mourn freely, cry out to God and still, in the deepest depths of who you are, know that being a child of God is the true gift.

I pray for Maria's brother. May he also accept that he is a child of God and forgive himself. A burden for anyone to carry but for a teenager, a tough road to journey through. May his family give him grace and support him through their own grief. May they heal together and be stronger than before.

I will take the Chapman family with me today as I celebrate with the Halley family. We are a part of each other, we grieve together, we pray together and we celebrate together. We are children of the Living God...