Hill Country Meditation
Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
Romans 12:15
A Note to Readers: Long time readers of Y’allogy know I rarely if ever discuss my religious beliefs in this newsletter. It is, after all, a publication dedicated to all things Texas, not all things theological. Nevertheless, when the two overlap, especially in ways that occurred on July 4, 2025, in the Texas Hill Country, I am compelled to reveal my Christian convictions in the hopes of bringing perspective and comfort to those struggling with the unimaginable suffering of our fellow Texans. To that end, I offer the following meditation on the Hill Country tragedy.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon made this wise observation: “There is an appointed time for everything, and a season for every event under heaven—a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance” (3:1, 4). Some four hundred years later, in the letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul instructed his readers to “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (12:15).
Two weeks ago this Friday should have been a day of rejoicing, laughter, and dancing. It was in communities throughout our land, but not in the Texas Hill Country. Our day of national celebration turned into a day of mourning as rain-flooded rivers swept away the lives of at least 134 Texans (as of this writing). This number includes at least thirty-seven children, many of them from Camp Mystic, a Christian girls camp on the Guadalupe River.
The terror of those caught in the roiling torrent, and of those watching helpless to help, is unimaginable unless you’ve lived through something like it. I have. Some twenty plus years ago on a camping trip with family and friends I nearly lost my oldest son when our canoe capsized on the swollen Brazos River and he disappeared under the brown-churned water—and remained under. He resurfaced twenty or thirty feet from where he first submerged and was pulled into a friend’s canoe. That night, as I lay in my tent with my wife and children sleeping peacefully around me, I wept tears of joy and thanksgiving for the life of my son. And I shuddered at what could have been.
Though I don’t presume to have plunged the depths of grief of parents who have lost children—none can who have not—I experienced a brief glimpse into the sorrowful abyss so many Texas families are suffering today. In the rage of that torrent, carried downstream and out of their lives, went the dreams and hopes of the lives those parents had for their children—and the children of their children. Those hopes and dreams now rest like so much debris along the banks of the River of Wolves.
When terrors tear and rip into our lives, when celebrations turn to mourning and cheers transform into tears, questions abound. And rightly so. It’s natural to seek answers when tragedy threatens to drown us. Answers from appropriate officials, whether local, state, or federal. And answers from God. Answers can offer a level of comfort, even if those answers can’t numb the pain of losing a child.
I can’t answer all the questions you and others are asking. No one can. But I’m convinced of this three-sided truth: God made the world good and beautiful, sin made the world evil and ugly, but God will make the world good and beautiful again. Until that day comes, we must learn to endure the ugliness and evil of the world. And we can do so with hope, knowing that “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).
To help us endure the suffering that inevitably comes into all our lives, I offer five principles to affirm and five practices to perform. They’re spelled out in the acrostic: J-E-S-U-S L-O-V-E-S.
Five Principles to Affirm When You Suffer
Jesus will never abandon you. No matter how forsaken you may feel during times of suffering, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are never abandoned. We could translate His promise in Hebrews 13:5 like this: “I will never, no not ever, desert you, nor will I ever, I repeat never, forsake you.”
Every tear will be wiped away. Jesus not only promises to be present with us during our grief, He promises to one day dry all our tears: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
Signs of faith are held high when we ask questions. Question are not necessarily signs of doubt. They may be signs of faith. When we ask questions in faith we inherently reaffirm God’s goodness and power because we recognize that things are out of joint—things are not the way they should be—and we’re asking God to put things back into joint, to make things the way they should be. We’re asking Him to fulfill His promise: “Behold, I am making all things new” (v. 5).
Unseen and unheard, yet our God is trustworthy. Though we’ve not seen Him with our eyes nor heard Him with our ears, God remains ever faithful and is working good on our behalf. “Behold,” Job said, “I go forward but He is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; when He acts on the left, I cannot behold Him; He turns on the right, I cannot see Him. But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (23:8–10).
Sorrow will turn to joy. When Jesus wipes away our tears and does away with mourning and death, oh, what joy shall flood our souls! “I will turn their mourning into joy,” God promises, “and will comfort them and give them joy for their sorrow” (Jeremiah 31:13).
Five Practices to Perform When You Suffer
Learn to pray and praise. Prayer aligns your heart with God’s and offers the hope of bending His will to favor yours, while conforming your will to His. As hard as it is to pray when your heart has been ripped from your chest, pray you must. If you can’t form the words of a prayer then pray the Psalms or the book of Lamentations. And don’t forget to praise. David, when he cried out, “How long, O Lord?” also sang to the Lord for His gracious gifts (Psalm 13:1, 6).
Observe and hold onto simple truths. In your suffering turn to God’s promises found in Scripture and you’ll find courage and healing for your soul. It’s in the Word of God that you’ll discover old and simple truths that bring comfort. “Do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself” (Matthew 6:34). “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies” (John 11:25). And though these words aren’t in the Bible, this truth is found there: “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
Vent your emotions. When His beloved friend Lazarus died, Jesus wept openly and freely. He also expressed His anger, not at God, but at death. The Gospel writer John recorded that Jesus was “deeply moved” by Lazarus’s passing (11:33, 38). John used a verb that expressed fury and outrage. The Greek playwright Aeschylus used that same verb to describe warhorses rearing up on their hind legs and snorting out of their nostrils before charging into battle.
Eat, dress, and sleep. We forget to take care of our physical needs when the body and soul are shocked into the reality of evil’s evilness. When Paul was being transported from Jerusalem to Rome a violent storm seized his ship. He said to the crew, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been constantly watching and going without eating, having taken nothing. Therefore I encourage you to take some food” (Acts 27:33).
Share your suffering with others. Reach out. Ask for help. No one is so tough they don’t need a shoulder to lean on. Knowing that he was about to die, Paul wrote to his protégé Timothy: “Make every effort to come to me soon. . . . Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service. . . . Make every effort to come before winter” (2 Timothy 4:9, 11, 21). Solomon wrote, “A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart” (Ecclesiastes 4:12). In your pain don’t retreat into a shell of sorrow. Call for help.
Corrie ten Boon and her family were arrested for hiding Jews in their Dutch home after a neighbor turned them in to the Nazis. Corrie and her sister Betsie were sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp, where Betsie died. But before she died, she reminded Corrie of this truth: “There is no pit so deep that [Jesus] is not deeper still.” What was true in Ravensbruck in 1944 is true in the Texas Hill Country in 2025. And those who have suddenly been pulled into the pit of despair and discover Him there will also discover the enduring truth that JESUS LOVES them.
Adapted from Derrick G. Jeter, “A Soul Drenched in Tears: Why Me and How Do I Endure?” sermon, Coffee House Fellowship, Stonebriar Community Church, Frisco, Texas, November 8, 2009.
Read my Hill Country Lament, “River of Wolves.”
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Be brave, live free, y’all.