Tragedy

How ironic that my last post included how thankful I am for New Life Church. Well, after another tragic day for my beloved church, I am even more thankful for this body of believers then ever before.

Today, a gunman shot 5 people at New Life. My city. My church. My family. Thankfully, we were not at the service this morning. We usually attend Sunday nights. But one of the most shocking texts came through my phone at about 1:20pm. "Shooting at New Life-we are OK." At first, I thought it wasn't true, and someone was just playing a prank. But then the texts and phone calls started coming in. The rest of the day has been spent tracking down all of our friends and "family" from New Life. Everyone I know is OK and accounted for, but they have not released the names of the victims yet. We are waiting, but not idly by. We are a church of prayer. So we have been praying.

We have been praying for the victims, the church, the families, the leadership of the church, and the gunman's family. We have been praying for forgiveness, peace, strength, healing, and power.

Needless to say, within the past year and 2 months I have experienced 2 days of overwhelming tragedy, confusion, and pain. But, we know that God is faithful. God is good. When everything is OK we will Praise Him. When tragedy strikes we will Praise Him. Please keep New Life Church in your thoughts and prayers.

Tonight I was again reminded why I am so thankful for New Life Church. Tonight all over this city, in homes of our members, people were getting together to pray, process, and just support one another. I am thankful for this family of believers that I love so dearly.