Tragedy arrived today in my part of Texas.  One of our hospitals went into crisis mode after a young man pulled a knife then began stabbing people around him.  It seems as if he experienced some type of breakdown while waiting for his mother to have a procedure.  Some visitors in the waiting area were injured while a nurse lost her life in the incident.  Part of my job takes me in and out of that hospital on occasion.  Most of this area is in some level of shock tonight.  Many may wonder how something this awful can occur two days prior to Thanksgiving. 

My focus is not on how it may happen but what do we do about it.  Grief is a complicated matter in it's easiest day.  No amount of information can fully prepare you to enter into such a journey.  Variables to the grief adventure are as many as the events that cause it.  Just because we are in a holiday season does not mean we are immune.  This is one of the huge truths some overlook or give little thought.  People carry around some measure of grief that gets amplified during this season.  I probably wrote about this before but it's worth revisiting.

I always say to my congregation that we need to be mindful of those who lost loved ones as we go through these days.  The part we often forget is this will be true of almost every person we see.  I could name those who are facing their first holiday time without a significant member of their family.  Others may still struggle with losses from years gone by.  Now you see how this includes everyone of us.  I know yesterday brought to mind some important losses over the years.  Twenty years later that reality still causes me pain.  Can we do anything about it?

There is no simple formula for getting around those feelings.  One idea may be to learn gratitude that you did know the person who is absent.  They are a part of who you are to this day.  We also are reminded to bring our lives to God for His comfort.  There is something unique about His presence that outweighs any logic or information we seek to help us through.  God often promises peace to us as a gift.  We take that for granted sometimes.  You do not need peace when you can handle it by yourself.  These are moments when we draw near to God only to find He is longing to draw close to us.  And that is a lesson more of us could stand to learn.

Bro. Trey