Psalm 34:17-18 (NLT)
The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles.The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

“Can you come here?” my wife texted at 10:15 a.m. on Monday, March 27, 2023. Frustrated, I quipped back, “In write, what’s wrong?” Even after 15 years of writing songs for a living and 18 years of marriage, I still don’t like to be interrupted at the beginning of a songwriting session. My loving and patient wife has unfortunately learned this better than anyone, but I knew something was wrong. What she sent next would change our lives forever. 

“Shooter in Covenant (school)!”

It’s wild how much can travel through your mind in a split second. Because in that moment of reading those three words, I thought about my children’s lives, their friends’ lives, my friends, my wife’s co-workers, and our whole “Nashville” world, while simultaneously blasting out of my studio chair, yelling, and racing to my bedroom, where my entire family was… miraculously home. That’s a story for another time, but for the first time in our lives, my wife and three children were all home from school because of work, scheduling, or illness. It was a miracle.    

What followed over the next six hours was an onslaught of trauma, terror, and world-unraveling events that have “stuck” to us ever since. My wife drove to the reunification site to comfort the surviving children, even before we knew if there were multiple shooters. 

Slowly, we learned of the friends we had lost, and we wept. I held my children and had to explain who had been killed. We were spared the trauma of losing a child and of hiding from a shooter, for which I will forever be grateful, but we began the treacherous journey of survivor’s guilt–of asking, “What if my wife, who doesn’t have a classroom but travels the halls to each classroom, was there?”–of grieving over the safety, security, and innocence being stolen from my children’s lives and, frankly, our lives as well. 

It’s been over a year since the horrific event, and if there’s one thing I am learning, it’s this: in the face of the worst-case scenarios of life, GOD. DRAWS. EVER. CLOSE. TO. THE. BROKEN. HEARTED. He promises this in the Psalms, and in the face of our tragedy, He gave us rainbows without a cloud in the sky and more “coincidences” than we can count to show us He is near. He brought the Covenant school community together in ways we’ve never experienced before and will undoubtedly bond us for life. 

The pain of what we’ve lost hasn’t gone away, but it’s been met with a peace that truly surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:7). When a friend asked how I was doing in the months after, I said, “We’re ok and I’m not sure why.” He, and I believe the Holy Spirit, replied, “Well maybe that’s why He calls it the peace that surpasses understanding.” I cried. It’s true. 

Another time, a friend asked the same question, and I replied, “I’m just still asking why. Why did this happen?” He said, “It’s the devil’s playground.” 

Bad things happen because the devil, the ruler of this world (John 12:31), is at work. But the good news is that God has overcome the world. He redeems what is broken and makes it whole again. Whether you’re the woman at the well, the blind man, the leper, the widow, the orphan, the King who lost it all, or anyone in between, Jesus comes close to every broken heart. Amen.

Contributed by: David Spencer


Reflection:

1. The author mentions the devil’s role in causing suffering. Does understanding the source of evil affect your view of God’s sovereignty and goodness in your life? How so?
    
2. What “coincidences” or unexpected blessings have you encountered in your own life that affirm God’s presence? How might you cultivate a mindset that recognizes these moments?
    
3. How do “what if” questions challenge you to let go of what you cannot control? What could you do to nurture a sense of peace in the here and now?