BOCA BETH: One Song at a Time

My kids laugh at me often!  I so easily cry over things that seem so remote, so distant from my own life here in Tampa, Florida.  So last night was no different when I cried in joy as David Cook won the 7th Season of American Idol.  I had been rooting for him after Syesha was booted off, and felt that the other David was going to win based on certain circumstances.

But David Cook won, and I will be second in line (right behind my husband!!!) to buy his first CD!  I cried myself to sleep almost.

Then this morning I woke up early to fill my car up with gas for our teen son who is now driving himself to and from school and also basketball practice.  It has been such a wonderful sense of freedom for us both - I for not having to take him all over as his driver & he for being able to hop in the car and come right home, not having to wait for me to show up!

Well, as I drove in the early dawn hours this morning, my favorite radio station TheJoyFM, announced from very sad news……………….Steven Curtis Chapman’s 5-year-old daughter Maria had been killed last night in the family’s driveway. 

I was stunned.  I was moved.  I was saddened and cried like a baby, then sobbed for a fellow mother who now will no longer hold her daughter any more and for a father who will no longer stroke his daughter’s hair any longer.

Then the Today Show reported that it was the family’s teenage son who killed her with the family’s SUV.

I wept as I pumped gas for my own teen son - praying that his freedom to drive and independence to grow into a young man challenges him with nothing even remotely close to the challenges this young teen in the Chapman family now faces.

Dear God and Heavenly Father - Welcome little Maria with open arms and the unbridled laughter that most 5-year-olds know so well.  Give her family strength to pull together during this oh-so-difficult time.  And love them as you have loved all of your children.

In God’s Holy Name we pray.  Amen.

Beth Butler