He lets rain fall

Yesterday Mona, one of the young men on our ministry team I mentioned earlier, lost his mother. I visited her at her sister's Amritsar home last week and prayed for her. She had been suffering for quite some time with kidney problems. When I met her, she was not looking well at all; however, I had no idea she was so very sick. Thankfully, Pastor Simon just flew back to Amritsar for a three-day evangelistic meeting and will be there to comfort Mona.

A few days ago my sister and her husband, Ante, lost almost the entire second floor of their house in a fire. My father and mother had just arrived back in Missouri after having experienced an emotionally trying ordeal across country. Everyone was about to go to bed when my brother-in-law came downstairs and asked everyone if something smelled funny. Yes it did. Eventually he opened the attic and smoked belched out. Everyone was hurried out of the house, including little Petra, and they watched the house burn until firefighters arrived. Apparently caused by an overheated chimney. Right now Petra is with my parents, and my sister and Ante are staying in a hotel. Many months will pass before the house is again habitable. I think my sister has received quite a bit of consolation from reflections on what God has spared her from, on what might have been. A few recent examples are before her.

John and Jane Ray are a really beautiful couple that my family knows from our time connected with Youth With A Mission in Arkansas. A few weeks ago, they lost their daughter Olivia, when she was struck by a car as she was crossing the street.

Earlier this summer another family we know well, the Kichlers, experienced the tragic loss of their son Aaron. (Aaron and his family honored me with their lively presence at my graduation dinner three years back--and we filled the crowded restaurant with show tunes.) Aaron was involved in an accident caused by a drunk driver, whose truck collided with Aaron's motorcycle. His brother Adam was driving another motorcycle immediately behind him and watched it all unfold. As often happens, the drunk was relatively unscathed, until, with Adam standing over his dead brother, the drunk took the opportunity to taunt. "It's too late, there's nothing you can do to save him." I imagine he's going away for a long time. What happened next between Adam and Drunkard only came out later and is easy enough to surmise, especially when you understand that Adam is exceedingly large and very tall. http://www.ottawaherald.com/story/072209wreck. Drunkard was taken to the hospital. I imagine Adam won't be prosecuted.