Life is Interesting

Life is an interesting thing. Sometimes we do something and don't realize the impact it may have years to come on either ourselves or others. We never know how something we've experienced can be used to help someone else.

I've been reading Choosing to See, by Mary Beth Chapman. Mary Beth is the wife of Steven Curtis Chapman, a popular Christian music artist. In May 2008 their 17-year son accidentally hit and killed their 5-year daughter. In her book, Mary Beth discusses not only the accident and the time after it, but also her years prior to it (including high school and college years). Eleven or twelve years before their daughter's death Steven Curtis Chapman wrote and recorded "With Hope". It was written about the journey toward heaven. When I read the lyrics I immediately thought of Austin:

"With Hope" - by Steven Curtis Chapman

This is not at all how
We thought it was supposed to be
We had so many plans for you
We had so many dreams
And now you've gone away
And left us with the memories of your smile
And nothing we can say
And nothing we can do
Can take away the pain
The pain of losing you, but...

We can cry with hope
We can say goodbye with hope
'Cause we know our goodbye is not the end, oh no
And we can grieve with hope
'Cause we believe with hope
There's a place where we'll see your face again
We'll see your face again

And never have I known
Anything so hard to understand
And never have I questioned more
The wisdom of God's plan
But through the cloud of tears
I see the Father smile and say well done
And I imagine you
Where you wanted most to be
Seeing all your dreams come true
'Cause now you're home
And now you're free, and...

We wait with hope
And we ache with hope
We hold on with hope
We let go with hope

Here is the link to a video of this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcYRr1dk7wA

As I continued to read on, I was amazed to discover that one or two years after the song had been written, friends of the Chapman's lost their 8-year old daughter in a car accident (in which the mother was driving). Their friends asked Steven Curtis Chapman to sing this song at their daughter's funeral. During the following years Mary Beth and this mother's friendship grew and strengthened. Ten years later this friend was the first person Mary Beth called after her own tragedy (the death of her own daughter)?

Who would have imagined, when Steven Curtis Chapman wrote and recorded "With Hope", that it would have such a powerful impact on one of their own friends a couple years later, and even more so, how it would relate to their very own tragedy - 12 years later?

As I've been working on my book, in memory of Austin and Living Life to the Fullest, my youngest son came up with his own quote, "Every day is not good, but there is something good in every day." And isn't this how it is with life...

Life is definitely very interesting and not always how we hope it to be!!! But we can find good in it...

(Steven Curtis Chapman also has a new CD - "Beauty Will Rise" that is memory of his daughter. It is beautiful! One of the songs is "Heaven is the Face" - It is beautiful! Here is the link to the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9JTwJ_1lzE )