I’m sure many of you heard about the shooting in our neighborhood last week. If you didn’t, here’s some of the details. On Friday April 24, 2020, at approximately 2:30 in the afternoon, several gun shots went off in the area of my daughter, Korie, and her husband, Willie’s, house. Like all incidents of this nature, it was quick. To the neighbors, including my eighty-nine year old mom who was in her yard at the time and said it was clearly gun shots, but since we live in Louisiana, the thought was someone was just taking shooting practice. (As a side note, there are 40 of our family members in the same neighborhood.) 

My grandson, John Luke, and his wife, Mary Kate were sitting in their living room when the shots went off. They heard what sounded like a ping on a tin roof (however they don’t have a tin roof) coming from their bedroom. Their house is very small and the living room is about three steps from the bedroom. When he walked in, he saw light coming from a small hole in the curtain. When he pulled the curtain back, it revealed the spot where the bullet came through. He looked across the room and saw the hole in the door casing. Of course, he immediately got Mary Kate to safety (John Shepherd was asleep in another room) and called the police. 

A two-day investigation ended Sunday when the gunman was arrested. 

The scenario I just wrote for you is one I never imagined writing. 

Here’s what I do know. We were protected from harm. Just thirty minutes prior we were all out and about going from one home to the next for meetings, some doing yard work, some just walking. Normally at that time of the day, Mary Kate walks with John Shepherd, but on that day, he was napping. Normally, on a Friday, John Luke is at camp working. That day, he was home. Normally, someone from Korie’s house is up at the garden (where the first shots occurred). That day, no one was at the garden.  Around 2:10, everyone who was outside for any reason went inside. I walked back to my house; Korie said good bye to a friend who had pulled up in the front yard and went inside to do a podcast. At 2:30, no one was outside, and the shooting occurred. We are praising God for His protection. For putting on our hearts where we needed to be to avoid a terrible tragedy. 

Anytime someone says words like I just said, the question arising—does that mean when (insert name) got killed while in the path of craziness, that God didn’t protect them? And my answer would be—I don’t know all the ways God works, I just know He does, because the Bible tells me so. Suffering has long been debated in religious circles as no one wants to believe a kind and loving God could allow suffering. I certainly don’t have all the answers and have lived long enough to have had outcomes not end as I wanted them to. 

On the subject of what should be our attitude toward suffering, the late Billy Graham said this:

“First, it should be one of worship. We ought to say, “O God, I believe You are the great and mighty God. I don’t understand all the things that are happening in my life, but, O God, I trust in You. Second, we should ask God to teach us all He would have us learn about Him, about ourselves, about others and how we can minister to those who are suffering. Third, our attitude in suffering should glorify God. People are going to watch us as Christians. They will ask, “How is it that Christ is so in control of his or her life that he or she was able to help others?’”

No one was physically hurt during the shooting last week, but our hearts hurt at just the prospect of a bullet hitting one of our loved ones. Then our hearts were unsettled as it was two days before an answer was given to us as to who and why this happened. I pray that all my children and grandchildren will know God is always with them, will beg God to teach what needs to be taught in the moment of suffering, and that we will always show others that we trust our God is in control. 

Thank you to those who prayed for our peace and comfort and reached out to us in some way. Have a blessed week.