Hugh’s Notebook

One of the writing gigs I do is reviewing books and writing blurbs for “Christian” oriented books. One I am currently working on is Fields of the Fatherless, by Tom Davis. A beautiful book, I was particularly taken by the introduction by Steven Curtis Chapman, a Christian recording artist. In the introduction to the book, Chapman talks about his family’s decision to adopt a daughter from China back in 2000, named Shaohannah Hope.

In the introduction he tells what his wife said said about Shaohannah:

“When they handed me Shaohannah, God was more real to me in that moment than He ever had been. It about knocked me down!”.

Shaohannah died last night, ran over in her own driveway in a horrible accident. And the person who ran over her was her own brother.

The pain the Chapmans are feeling right now I cannot begin to imagine. The pain their teenage son must feel and live with, knowing he killed his sister… I shudder even thinking about it. More than anything today, I pray for the Chapman family to be able to sort through the pain, the anger and the despair and know that they are very loved.

I believe that if God could have prevented this, He would have, and I believe that Shaohannah’s death grieves Him in ways I cannot fathom and I know that one day, when the dream of God is fully realized, when things are on earth as they are in heaven, wrongs like this will be made right. I will just be glad when it gets here. We are hurting, creation is groaning, waiting for that day.

Tags: Adoption, China, problem of evil, Steven Curtis Chapman, theodicy

Posted by Hugh / Writing