sad stories

As a father, there are certain news stories which especially grab at my heart. With the round-the-clock coverage of cable news, it's now possible to know what's going on in parts of the country you otherwise would never have heard of -- much less ever visit.

I watched this morning a mother announcing that a dead body was indeed the body of her 17-year-old daughter. The daughter had been missing for several weeks and was finally located in rural Virginia. As they typically do, as the mother is talking the network is flashing pictures of the daughter in a separate window. Young. Bubbly. A graduation photo. Having breakfast with dad. A freshman in college.

No mother (or father) should ever have to go through that.

There's little doubt in my mind that we live in a fallen world. With the bombardment of news, it's unfortunate that we often build up a tolerance to the pain that's in our world. Just because we don't feel the pain of others doesn't eliminate the reality of their pain.

Where's the hope? In Jesus Christ and his church.