April is one of my favorite months. The delicate spring flowers and temperate weather add a zip to my step. April ushers in hope that the long winter is ending.  New life bursts forth from bulbs hidden in their dark tombs. It’s usually the month we celebrate the Jesus’ resurrection life shattering the grave. What can get better than that?

Recently, I have become aware that an inordinate number of tragedies have occurred in this most beautiful of months. Let me list the ones I’ve noticed, the Dark Side of April:

•  4/20/1999  Columbine shooting (date chosen because of Hitler’s birthday)
• 4/20/1889  Hitler born
• 4/19/1995  Oklahoma City bombing (date chosen because of Waco)
• 4/19/1993  Waco seige
• 4/16/2007  Virginia Tech shooting
• 4/14/1865  Lincoln assassinated
• 4/4/1968    Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated
• 4/15/1912  Titanic sank
• 4/26/1986  Chernobyl explosion
• 4/11/1970  Apollo 13 oxygen tank exploded (safely landed 6 days later)
• 4/18/1906  San Francisco earthquake and fire
• 4/12/1861  Civil War began
• 4/19/1775  American Revolution began
• April 1940  Soviet massacre of 22,000 Poles in Katyn forest
• 4/10/2010  Poland’s top leadership died in plane crash en route to commemorate 70^th anniversary of the Soviet massacre.

Some of these events illicit somber historical remembrances of events long ago. But some bring fresh pain and raw tears to hearts split apart by the senseless violence, hearts that will always carry the scars and never feel whole.

I’m thankful for the timely reminder of Jesus’ victory over sin and death. Wonder juxtaposed with evil. One of the things Jesus came to do is “to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes.”  Christ’s resurrection doesn’t provide easy answers (I don’t believe any exist), but it does bring hope that someday, soon, things will be made right. He is coming again!