Steven Curtis Chapman

With all the good things the Lord blesses us with it's certainly no reason to ever have reason to not be thankful and happy in the Lord. Yet I know that all of us have days that we struggle and don't necesesarily want to smile about what is going on in our life. I can imagine that today is such a day for the Steven Curtis Chapman family. While this man has certainly been a blessing to me over the years with his uplifting and God honoring music that has both made me have tears of joy as well as tears of tenderness, I just cannot imagine what it must be like for him and the rest of this Godly family to lay to rest their youngest member, Maria today. At the tender age of 5 years old, how could this family say goodbye to someone who has captured their hearts in such a short time on this earth? Saying goodbye is never really something we look forward to but can you imagine what this family must feel today? Pray then for the Chapman family who must endure a funeral today for someone who just celebrated her 5th birthday a few days ago. With one son, Caleb, graduating from high school and the oldest daughter Emily announcing her engagement to be married and now for the family to have the difficult task to make funeral arragements, could a family have any more emotional pulls than this family has had in the past week? My heart breaks even though I don't know this family personally, although I have had the joy of shaking hands with Steven Curtis on a few occasions and thanks to his music feel like I do know him. But I even wonder myself, why am I so touched and effected when I don't really know these guys? It's amazing that God gives us a heart for our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord, especially in times of sorrow when they need our prayers so much. So we do as the word says and rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep and are reminded that we have not a high priest who has not been effected with hurt and sorrow of His own. And above all, we are not a people without hope. So let's pray, especiallly today for the comfort and healing of the Steven Curtis Chapman family. I'm sure they would appreciate us doing that.