The tragic death of Matthew Winkler, the minister for the Fourth Street Church of Christ in Selmer, Tennessee has gripped our nation and caused many people to wrestle with the question of "Why?"

Bobby Ross, editor for the Christian Chronicle, was in Selmer Sunday to worship with the Fourth Street church in the aftermath of Winkler's death. He shares his reflections here.

One paragraph within his story deeply moved me as Bobby shares the reflections of Dan Winkler, Matthew's father and minister for the Huntingdon, Tennessee church.

About 70 miles away, at the Huntingdon, Tenn., Church of Christ where Matthew Winkler's dad, Dan Winkler, preaches, a guest speaker was supposed to handle the preaching duties. But a tearful Dan Winkler ended up preaching, including an emotional reading of Psalm 23. Dan talked about how he and his wife had gone to see Mary Winkler and told her they loved her. (Under the circumstances, I'm not certain I'd be able to demonstrate that same kind of Christian compassion and forgiveness.) He talked about his son and what a good man he was. He reflected on his three young granddaughters and how important it will be to shield them from the ugliness sure to emerge in this case.

Since I have blogged the last two days on the spiritual discipline of prayer, I encourage you today to carve out some time to be in prayer for the Winkler family, especially the three little girls whose lives have been wrecked by this tragedy.