I'm not interested in grandstanding this, but my heart goes out to the parents, especially the father, of Kelsey Smith. With the same breath, I realize that it could have been someone I loved turning on the surveillance video being kidnapped and brutalized.
Kelsey Smith should have seen the joy of her wedding day, the tears of joy at seeing her newborn child's face, held her child's hand as she walked to the park, raised and loved a family with her husband and then grow old together. That's how it's supposed to be.
Not now. Not for her.
And we all take a collective sigh of relief that it wasn't our child.
Everyone, except Kelsey's parents.
I have long realized that the true victims of any murder of a believer are the ones that are forced to go on without her. They sat in a church today and instead of giving their daughter away to a young man, they had to let her go into the arms of the Son of Man, Jesus. How are they supposed to go on? What joy do they have in their future? Is there anything left now?
For God's sake, yes. We have a hope and a future, a blessed hope and a higher calling. We live and move and have our being in Him. He is the one that feeds us daily with every word from His mouth. We may have lost our loved ones, our ability to work or our life savings. But, if we lose these things now, what real trouble is that when we come into our inheritance as children of God? These light and momentary afflictions are worth it, truth be told, and are far less than what we all truly deserve, a living death in hell.
Does that make it all better? No, it doesn't. But focussing on this present world and assuming that it is all that exists is a mistake. We have pain, very real pain while we are here, but that pain will fade with time. We need that eternal mindset to help us live with the heart knowledge, not just the head knowledge, that we will not always suffer. The heartache and grief from any loss is significant, if only to remind us that our hearts were made for heaven, not earth.
Someday, this will be a memory. Until then, Kelsey's parents have one hope: to cling to God with all their strength.
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