Steven Curtis Chapman

My heart is aching tonight for a family I've never met and probably never will. I was driving Estella Dru to Kids Day Out this morning when I heard the news that Steven Curtis Chapman's five year old daughter was killed in a tragic accident yesterday evening. It may seem a bit weird that I could get so upset about an event I am so far away from and people whom I don't know. But though I've never met SCC, he has without a doubt been one of the greatest sources of comfort and strength in my life. I began listening to him in jr. high school when my life was, or so I thought it was, quite painful and difficult to muddle through. I would sit in my room for hours listening to my "tapes" over and over and just feeling renewed and gaining strength from his music like I couldn't find anywhere else. Even during Grandma's funeral... I had chosen a song called Unfailing Love by Chris Tomlin to be played during a slide presentation. I didn't really know the song that well, but while I was hurriedly sampling music the day before the funeral, that song just stuck out to me. I think the first time I listened to it the entire way through was as I sat in the service, and all of a sudden, at the end of the song, I hear SCC's voice. Apparently he joined Chris Tomlin on the track. I had no idea, but I sat there thinking... how fitting it is for him to show up here at this very moment in my life when he had been there with me through so many other struggles and in the depths of my desperation. And once again, just the sound of his voice, the familiarity, brought me comfort. Sounds ridiculously corny, I know, but I have often thought, if I could meet anyone in the world, it would be SCC simply so I could say the words, "thank you." I cannot imagine how many people feel the same way and how many lives he has touched with his amazing, amazing talent. Just in my little insignificant life, wow... what a difference he made. I would still love to tell him 'thank you', but for now, what I can do is pray for that precious family.

There are so many SCC songs that have meant so much to me over the years, but there is one in particular called Believe Me Now. I hope the Chapman family holds on to this type of hope.

So believe Me now
Believe it's true
I never have, I never will abandon you
And the God that I have always been
I will forever be
So believe Me now