The sudden death of Minnesota's music prodigy, Prince, has left people in a funk. Some people decided that a sudden death is a good enough reason to reject God., while others draw closer.

he steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;[a]
his mercies never come to an end Lamentations 3:22

(Scene 1) The backdrop is Heaven's throne room where the prayers of many are received from those on earth. Jesus is looking at a list of names of people who once sent prayers to Him, but no longer do. He agonizes over that list. Each broken heart brings tears to His eyes. These are just some of those names. Any resemblance to actual people is only coincidental.

Nathaniel had been walking a very painful life's journey since 2001 when he opened up his voice mail to discover that his older brother and his wife and 5 kids died in the 9/11  plane crash. Until that moment, he had been involved in a church that he attended weekly, and it was that ritual of obedience that brought comfort for him; after all, he loved Jesus with every fabric of his heart, mind and soul. Nothing brought greater joy than to spend time with him reading from the Psalms with a soft worship song playing in the background. Jesus could always count on listening to his heart; until that is when Nathaniel chose to shut God out of his life. Jesus remembers his last prayer to him if you could call it one. "I am done with your God! Why should I worship you, Jesus, when you can't even keep the ones I love alive!"  Nathaniel could not see that his brother, his brother's wife and his kids were very much alive in heaven. He could not see his brother's kids laughing and enjoying heavens pursuits. If only Nathaniel could be honest enough to bring all of his brokenness to Him. If only he would allow Jesus to walk with him on this journey.

Molly is another person who once loved Jesus, but the physical beatings she received from her former husband that fateful day, when he left her for another woman, left her in an ash heap of despair and the inability to see any good in God. Molly couldn't understand why a good God would bring her long-suffering and emotional pain. After all, she always believes that when two people married it was until death do they part. . . If only, Molly could have been honest and brought all of her hurts, her anger, and her injustices to Him and allowed Jesus to walk with her during the darkest days of her life for however long it took for her broken heart to be healed.

Derrick was a young college student with dreams of one day working in the computer field. He was a good student who was involved in Christian extracurricular activities. He had been on several missions trips to Haiti that profoundly touched and changed his life's perspective; until that is when he came home to learn in a phone call from his Aunt telling him that his parents killed in a car accident. Derrick could not wrap his arms around the notion why a loving God would take two people he loved from him.  Parents who loved him and were the inspiration of the man he became. If only, Derrick would bring the broken pieces of his heart and allow his Savior walk with him on this sad journey; then he would have seen God's mighty and miraculous work in his life, and he would see visions of his mom and dad in heaven singing and praise Jesus.

As Jesus reads each person's bio on this list tears are streaming down his eyes. He loved each person on this list and wanted them to turn their hearts back to him.  Jesus wants each of them to know that he weeps for each tragedy that occurs, and he wants them to see that tragedy occurs because we live in an imperfect and wretched world. He wants people to see that he will take any tragedy, any emotional pain and make all things new again. He wants them to see that he can handle all of their brokenness, their sorrow, and their inner pain. He wants them to see that he has made all things new again in the lives of those who call on him, who continue to place one foot in front of the other praying their prayers of sadness, their pain and their brokenness to Him.

If only we would all be honest with Jesus.  Instead of us turning away from God in times of tragedy we lean toward  God, then one day we would see the bigger picture of how that tragedy fits into the larger one God has for us.

If only we would be honest.