A Church in Mourning

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

- Romans 12:9-16, NIV

In the wee hours of the morning on Saturday, July 8, 16-year-old Ashton Glover was declared missing from her home in Sugar Land, Texas. An active member of the First Colony Church of Christ Youth Group, she was well-known and loved within the community and her church. Texas EquuSearch, a mounted search and recovery team, began searching on Monday, July 10. That afternoon, her body was found - five miles from where she had last been seen. She had died from blunt-force trauma to her head.

Sugar Land is a small community just southwest of Houston. According to the city's website, Sugar Land is the eighth best place in the USA to raise a family, and among the top 50 places to live in the US. Nearly 75,000 people call Sugar Land home. Sugar Land is also home to the largest Church of Christ in the Houston area, First Colony Church of Christ - where Ashton was a member.

Sugar Land, even with it's close proximity to Houston, is a relatively quiet place to live. As residents said this week, murders are something you just don't hear about in Sugar Land. How could something like this have happened here?

I've been attending First Colony on Wednesdays, and have been feeling a part of the family. Though I did not know Ms. Glover personally, tonight I felt a strong sense of loss. The service was going as normal, with little indication of the heavy hearts many people felt. But roughly 30 minutes into the service, in came a throng of people - Ashton's family and friends - with news that two suspects had been caught trying to cross the border into Canada just minutes before. Then they burst into tears.

Pastor Ronnie Norman ended his lesson - less than a minute into a biography of Mother Teresa - and asked that we abide by Romans 12:15 - mourn with those who mourn. Emotion flooded throughout the church as even those of us who were strangers to the family began to weep.

I pray that Ashton's family can find peace in this ordeal. I pray that those involved will find refuge in Jesus Christ. I pray that we can all be available to mourn when our brothers and sisters in Christ are in pain, as I saw demonstrated tonight in awesome power.