Sympathy

It's a pretty rare thing for me to cry over a news story but the news about Steven Curtis Chapman's family tragedy had me in tears. I can't even imagine the double tragedy of losing a loved child at the hands of another loved child. While I feel terrific sympathy for Maria my heart just breaks for Steven's son.

I keep thinking about Joseph and his brothers and I kept remembering the verse as saying "what you meant for evil, God meant for good" but when I really started studying the verses in Genesis 45 I noticed something. The verses actually say "Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God" (NAS, Genesis 45:5-8a). Maybe I'm being silly but I found comfort in those verses and I hope the Curtis son does too! Joseph never accuses his brothers of 'meaning evil' but reiterates to them that God uses terrible situations to work his will.

I don't know if the Chapman's son was being a careful and responsible driver and he may have 'should haves' for himself but I am absolutely confident that this was an accident and it's a heavy burden for any teenager to bear. The press hasn't revealed whether the teenager behind the wheel was Will Franklin or Caleb but I hope that you all will join me in praying for the Chapman family and most specifically their son.