There was a miracle in the wildfire the other night. On an Indian reservation where we have many dear friends.

We've watched the news with growing concern - and intensifying prayer - as the path of the fire's destruction has grown steadily. We learned some of our "family" there have their church and some loved ones in a town surrounded by the flames.

A part of my heart's been in Charleston, South Carolina the past few days. So has a part of America's heart. As the hate-driven murder of nine Christian worshipers - in the church - has devastated a city and riveted the nation. With seasoned reporters groping for words. Like "horrific." "Heartbreaking."

But even more overwhelming than the brutal crime has been the response of the families whose loved ones were murdered. "I forgive you."

Wow, they had my attention. When the reporter started talking about a young woman being attacked by a lion. In a game park. In South Africa.

I've been to a game park in South Africa. Where lions roam freely. And the lions were an issue.

My South African friend, Ted, was driving me through this massive game reserve during a break at the conference where I was speaking. It was winter there. The grass was tall. He said, "You'll see the big animals - but not the cats. But they'll be there - in the grass."

It was a Kleenex moment in the Christmas season, for sure.

Like the first Christmas, there was a newborn baby involved. But no manger. How about a Jumbotron screen at an Anaheim Ducks hockey game, of all places?

A strange sight, for sure. Ferguson, Missouri in flames. With Christmas lights all around. A "Season's Greetings" banner, shrouded in tear gas.

Seems like a disconnect. Or maybe not.

Heart-wrenching.

Brittany Maynard's medical death sentence. A young wife, in love with her husband, looking forward to having children. Told that her incurable cancer would, after a painful decline, take her young life.

Robin Williams, one of the funniest men in America. Successful in movies. TV. Even Broadway.

This last batch of killer tornadoes missed our area. But the lives and places devastated this time hit a little closer to home.

The Mississippi folks at the conference we were at were getting some pretty scary reports from back home. Others from North Carolina were still talking about the toddler who died in a tornado that struck nearby. Friends in a ministry organization we know were deeply wounded by the death of a coworker and his daughters in Arkansas.

It just sounds weird. "Mount Everest is closed."

But that was the headline last week. No one's climbing that most iconic of all mountaineering conquests.

Because last week 16 Sherpa guides were lost on the mountain. As blocks of ice as big as automobiles came cascading down on them.

"We own the finish line!" - Vice President Joe Biden at the memorial service for Boston Marathon bombing victims

Wow. I heard that and said, "That's Easter!"

Death - life's finish line - has never been the same since Jesus blew it away that first Easter morning.