Grief and Joy

My heart is breaking for the family of Christian singer and brother in the Lord Steven Curtis Chapman, who lost their youngest daughter in a tragic accident yesterday. What the website doesn't say is that his teenage son accidentally backed over the little girl in the driveway. To deal with losing a daughter so suddenly, but also helping a teenager work through unimaginable feelings of guilt, is just beyond comprehension. I am praying for them, and I know many others must be too.

Here's a video of one of his songs, inspired by his daughters. The second half of the video is him talking about how he wrote it -- one of those parenting moments I think we can ALL relate to, of feeling impatient and frustrated with our kids when they're not on our page, and then sort of getting a smack upside the head about what REALLY matters.



On a more selfish note, my heart is very, very cherished by some older friends, like almost my parents' age, who recently moved here from New Zealand and are visiting our home meeting. They arrived early and are right now outside whipping the front of our house, including the cluttered carport, into shape, doing DRASTIC things to reduce our redneck curb appeal. ;-) And I know from last week's experience that after dinner, they'll be totally invigorating our singing time, taking us to a new level of the heavens. The fact that they can do both those things with such a happy heart completely exudes Jesus to me.