Marshall's tragedy

Hubby and I watched the movie We Are Marshall last week. This summer, for World Changers, our teens are going to Huntington, WV - the site of the tragedy from which the movie was made. (Spoiler alert) A tragedy of that size must have impacted the little town tremendously. Not only were most of the football players lost, but also townspeople like doctors, college personnel, etc. The crash definitely impacted the community as a whole, not just the college. Makes me think of tragedies in general. The shooting at Columbine. The shooting at Virginia Tech. Something that was hard during my own personal tragedy was realizing that life continued on. While my world stopped inside the hospital that morning last May, the clock kept ticking. Just like in Huntington in Nov. of 1970, time kept clicking on. As the movie showed, different people move on in different ways, but the impact of a tragedy still plays a part in each person's future. Same as mine. Our loss impacted our future. No way around it. I am different now. Oh, there are probably ways that I am negatively different, as well as positively different. Regardless, each part of our journey through tragedy has a greater purpose. Stay with me... if I'm not winding on too far off the path of tragedy... check out Heather's quote from Charles Spurgeon. I think it applies. "All that befalls us on our road to heaven is meant to fit us for our journey’s end. Our way through the wilderness is meant to try us, and to prove us, that our evils may be discovered, repented of, and overcome and that thus we may be without fault before the throne at the last. We are being educated for the skies and for the assembly of the perfect." Wow - what great motivation. Our tragedies, whether impacting us personally or as a community, try us and prove us. We will never be "without fault" but when we back down and learn to lean on God, we become a bit more like Him, and tragedies become a bit easier to face.