Rev. Shaw Moore

*He* is testing us. Our Lord is testing us. Especially now, when we are consumed with despair. When we are asking our God why this had to happen. No parent should ever have to know the horror of burying their own child. And yet, five of Bomont's brightest have lost their lives. Among them, my only son... my boy, Bobby. We have other children to raise here in Bomont. And one day, they will no longer be in our embrace and in our care. They will belong to the world. A world filled with evil, and temptation, and danger. But until that day, they are ours to protect. That is the lesson to be taken from this tragedy. That is our test. We cannot be missing from our children's lives.

I am standing before you today with a troubled heart. I've insisted on taking responsibility for your lives. That I am really, just like a first-time parent, who makes mistakes and learns as he goes along. And like that parent, I find myself at that moment when I have to decide. Do I hold on or do I trust you to yourselves? Do I let go and hope that you have understood my lessons? If we don't start trusting our children, how will they ever become trustworthy. I'm told that the senior class of Bomont High School has secured the use of a warehouse in nearby Bayson for a senior dance. Please join me in keeping them in our prayers that our Lord would guide them in their endeavors.