MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - A Mid-South church had a chance to help Aurora heal. By chance or by fate, the Pentecostal Church in South Memphis was in Colorado during the movie theater shooting.
They returned Wednesday, and the pastor who led the trip could only describe the trip to Colorado as a life-changing experience. They saw first hand suffering of the worst sort.
What began as a mission trip to help a pastor start a new church became a front row seat into tragedy's theater.
“I was headed to bed when we heard sirens, but thought maybe it was just an accident. One of the students called the room and said there's been a shooting down the street,” said Youth Pastor Jason Huckaby. “We changed our whole program that had been planned for a year and a half.”
They spent the following days comforting people impacted by the shooting. They didn't have to look far.
“There was a gentleman who came to one of the prayer vigils. He was weeping and asked for prayer, his best friend was in surgery as we spoke,” Huckaby recalled.
“There was a lady who really grabbed our attention. She was on her knees and crying saying, ‘I wish I could have been there for you.’ We just got down on our knees beside her put our arms around her and prayed with her."
If anything outnumbered the tears, it was the questions of why it happened and how to make sense of it.
“You can't make sense of that but the Bible says the Lord brings a peace that passes understanding. When understanding runs out and in all honesty our understanding has run out, but when understanding runs out there is a peace that surpasses that,” Huckaby said.
He says he believes fate caused them to be in Aurora last week so they could help comfort people in one of their greatest moments of need.
