Small Plane Crash Made Me Wonder If God Does Exist

Keith Green and two of his children died in a small plane crash on July 28, 1982. That was thirty years ago. The Greens had four children. Three year old Josiah and two year old Bethany were on the plane. Also, John and Dede Smalley and their six children died in that crash.

Melody Green was actually pregnant with child #4 at the time and there was a baby that didn't go on that plane.

I woke up this morning thinking about that plane crash, and also about the tragic plane crash that just happened to one of the skating families in Colorado Springs.

I just read about Trish Porter. I knew nothing about her before this past Thursday.  She was just another loving parent who took her kid ice skating. I've now learned that she is a strong, brave, and an amazing woman who has been through so much already. I know people will tell me that God had a reason for 1/2 of Melody Green's family to perish and that there must be a reason that something similar has just happened to the Porter family.

Pat Porter had just been inducted into the Rocky Mountain Hall of Fame on July 20, 2012.

The next morning, on July 21, I was sitting in the stands in the Colorado Springs World Arena Ice Hall watching my kids do pair skating.  Annabelle had a bad fall on the double twist lift.  Trish Porter was sitting right in front of me in the stands.  She asked if Annabelle would be okay.  It's hard for me to fathom that five days later, her life, and the life of her daughter, Shannon (who was skating on the same practice session as Annabelle and Joel), would have their lives changed forever.  It almost seems like a dream and it just can't be real.

I didn't know the Porters really, but they were such a "light" at the World Arena. Trish is so friendly and all the skaters love Shannon.  I didn't know Keith or Melody Green either, but I did visit their commune once just after I finished college.  Both people just sort of touched me, so I feel some connection with them.

These two small plane crash tragedies happened almost exactly 30 years apart to the day. Both women had amazing husbands, but also, both women maybe (or were/are) "called by God" (I don't usually use that lingo) to go on and to tell others that God is in charge.

I admit I have wondered how something so horrible could happen at all. In fact, horrible things have occurred in Colorado this past summer.

This week, I began to question if there is a God at all after hearing about the Porter tragedy, but thinking about Melody Green and how she went on for 30 years and kept on believing in God helps me to continue to believe that God does exist.  There has to be a reason that God allowed these things to happen.

I am still so, so sad and I'm thinking of Trish and Shannon Porter and also I'm thinking of the family of the other boy (who was a Collin Porter's friend) who also died in this tragedy.  I wish I could hug them.  I also wish I could hug the families that lost loved ones in the Aurora shootings.  I am also so sad for the families that lost their homes in the Waldo Canyon Fire.

• Plane crash claimed Olympian, two teens

Review of "God and Kings" - A Book By Lynn Austin

I downloaded God and Kings to my Kindle because it was a free book advertised on a free Kindle Books and Tips App.  I also downloaded it because I love to read historical fiction, and I especially like reading biblical fiction.

I wasn't sure I would really read the book, but since it was free, I thought it was worth having on my Kindle Fire to read when I needed something new to read.

I had no idea when I downloaded the book, that I'd find it to be so good and also, that the book would almost seem to "speak directly to me."   There is definitely a message in Lynn Austin's novel.

God and Kings is the first book in a series about the kings in the bible from the book of Chronicles.  This book is about the life of young Hezekiah, whose father was Ahaz, one of the wicked kings of Judah.  Ahaz does horrible things.  Hezekiah learns about Yahweh (God) through his grandfather, Zechariah, when he is a little boy.  He forgets about God as he grows up since Zechariah is taken away and hidden from him.  When Hezekiah becomes King of Judah, he is reunited with Zechariah and remembers God.

I realized, as I read the book, that I really didn't know much about any of the kings described in the Tanach.  I also didn't know much about the sacrifices that once took place in the Temple or how God's people had turned away from God.

Even though this story was about a past that seems fictional, there was some present day reality brought to the story.  The overwhelming theme is that believing and following God may seem ridiculous and outdated to people that don't believe or don't want to believe in God.

The people in the time of the kings had walked away from God, yet there still were some who did or remembered what their life had once been like when they did follow God.  Success and greed may have changed them, but in the back of their minds, they knew what God had done in their lives.  They had to decide if they would stay comfortably in the lives they had chosen without God or return to God.  It was a hard choice.  They also had to decide if they would publicly take a stand for God.

The point of this book is to show that God may be forgotten, but when one returns to God and takes a stand, goodness returns to one's soul and also good things may happen.  The book seems to make it clear that a life that is without God is a life that leads to bad things and destruction.  Thinking about all of this is scary.