LEBANON, Tenn. (WTVF) — As Middle Tennessee and the nation mourn the lives lost in The Covenant School shooting Monday in Nashville, NewsChannel 5's Carrie Sharp reached out to Pastor Erik Reed of The Journey Church in Lebanon.
Reed and his wife, Katrina, have suffered the death of a child — their son Kaleb.
Kaleb died in 2019 at just 15 years old after lifelong medical issues.
“You know he was just the sweetest kid ever and the most joyful kid ever. But you know, I knew from the time he was born, and with medical issues from the jump, that there may be a possibility that I would lose him one day. As a parent, you never want to think about that. You never want to consider that. And it forced me to really have to deal with some big, big questions about what I believed, and where was God in the midst of this? And so that really became for my family, a journey of trying to make sense of suffering and pain in the world and your faith in God. Thankfully, God's word has plenty to talk about with those things, even though for many eyes we don't dart to those things immediately, because we don't want to think about pain, and we don't want to think about suffering. But what happens is, inevitably life is going to confront you with challenges and pain and afflictions. They're unavoidable, and sometimes they're severe right. Sometimes they are severe. And the city of Nashville, and particularly the families and friends connected to Covenant are feeling that right now, and my family and I had to try to make sense of some really hard questions.
Pastor Reed speaks and writes extensively about being a “hopeful sufferer.”
You can watch Carrie’s entire conversation with Pastor Reed in the video player above.
