A few weeks ago, I made a post about the new Kenny Chesney song called “Who You’d Be Today”. Somehow that post found it’s way to several search engines and has become a source for people searching for the lyrics. The tracking I do shows an amazing amount of hits and several people have left comments with very personal stories of tragedy and loss. As I read those comments, I was reminded of a song that was written by Steven Curtis Chapman after the Columbine Tragedy. To all of you who have felt the pain of loss, the lyrics below are posted for you. May you find peace in the midst of your sadness from this song.

With Hope – Steven Curtis Chapman

This is not at all
How we thought it was supposed to be
We had so many plans for you
We had so many dreams
But now you’ve gone away
And left us with the memories of your smile
And nothing we can say
And nothing we can do
Can take away the pain
The pain of losing you

And we can cry with hope
We can say good-bye with hope
‘Cause we know our good-bye is not the end
And we can grieve with hope
‘Cause we believe with hope
There’s a place where we’ll see your face again
We’ll see your face again

And never have I known
Anything so hard to understand
And never have I questioned more
The wisdom of God’s plan
But through the cloud of tears
I see the Father smile and say ‘well done.’
And I imagine you
Where you wanted most to be
Seeing all your dreams come true
‘Cause now your home
And now your free

And we can cry with hope
We can say good-bye with hope
‘Cause we know our good-bye is not the end
And we can grieve with hope
‘Cause we believe with hope
There’s a place where we’ll see your face again
We’ll see your face again

We have this hope as an anchor
‘Cause we believe that everything
God promised us is true

We wait with hope
And we ache with hope
We hold on with hope
We let go with hope