Every Sunday afternoon my friends would come home with me after church and we would play on the farm. The whole church was really my family. The morning after my dad passed, Brother Carl Boyd (the pastor) was at my bedside to comfort me and my brother, Travis. Our house was filled with church people and one of those church people sent my brother, my mom and I on a trip to Disney after my dad passed. Sitting through prayer meetings every Wednesday night was sometimes torture but God used those prayer meetings to shape who I am today. The Spirit of the Lord was there. The Spirit of the Lord lived among the people. After all, the church will always be the people - not a building.
The horrific news out of Sutherland Texas has not left my mind. I believe it's because I see myself in that story. I haven't stopped praying for that church. This could have been my family. There were families holding hands with their heads bowed in prayer when a stream of bullets hit their backs. Young and old were worshipping a loving God when evil walked into the room. In times of tragedy, the church in White Plains, Kentucky taught me that in suffering we all pull in close! We hold each other so the darkness doesn't hold us.
Ann Voskamp says, "You can count on it. Aloneness widens suffering but togetherness weakens suffering."
Lord, be close to the people of Sutherland Texas!
