My day started off with a relaxing morning with my family and my friend who was here for a few days to visit. We wanted to take her to VooDoo Donuts for one last cultural experience before she left town. We got a good laugh at the VooDoo Monster in the bushes and at the crazy hipsters and Portlandites around us. Never a dull moment.
After saying good-bye to my friend I headed off to meetings for work. About 4 pm I got a text from Matt saying that our dear friends and staff team members were at the mall where a shooting had just taken place. My heart sank. An hour later as my phone started ringing and getting texts to make sure we were okay started coming in my emotions were raw. The tears were rolling; afraid for my friends who I didn’t know were out of the mall or not, for the people I knew had already been shot, for the horror of it all really.
Our friends are okay although shaken by the nightmare they have just experienced. I’m hugging my family tighter tonight knowing that this was just too close to home for us, literally.
Our world is messed up. The day started out with pretend monsters in the bushes and ended with a real monster yielding a gun and taking lives. It makes me sick to my stomach. But I was reminded as I sang Amazing Grace to Isaac as I put him to bed, whether in life or death, God’s grace is amazing and He does indeed save. I’m so thankful for that. I have hope in a good God who saves even when terrible things happen.
Join me in praying for peace for those who experienced this terrible tragedy, for my friend who was in the mall to not go into early labor (she’s 8 months pregnant), for the family of those who lost loved ones and for God to do something good out of this.