Blog Post from Nashville School Shooting Victim

Dr. Katherine Koonce died this week in the horrific school shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. She served as the Head of School. She was one of three children and three adults killed in what appears to be a hate crime against Christians at this school by a former student of the school, although details continue to come out related to the murderer, who subsequently was also shot by police and died in the incident.

Dr. Koonce wrote this blog on The Covenant School blog page in 2020, during the COVID shutdown. Her words reflect a deep commitment to Jesus Christ. Knowing now that she gave her life this week at her school in service to these children, I think her words are worth reading and considering. I pray you will be encouraged by her April 30, 2020 blog as it appears without edits below.

Whatever

by Dr. Katherine Koonce, Head of School

This morning I spent some time talking to God about this past week, and a particular word came to mind, which is a typical outcome in my conversations with God. The word of the week is whatever. Hold on. Not so fast. This is not the whatever you may be thinking about. This is not the whatever that punctuates so many frustrating conversations. This is not the whatever of the middle-schooler not wanting to continue a conversation. We have come to expect this word to be a response to something we don’t like but can’t avoid. But what I heard is an entirely different case of whatever.

The word whatever occurs over 170 times in the Scriptures, usually indicating wholehearted commitment and obedience – to do whatever God asks of us. God tells us that whatever we ask in His name, we will be given. In Psalm 1, the one whose delight is in the Lord is depicted as being like a tree planted by a stream, and whatever this person does prospers. But perhaps the clearest depiction of whatever is in the book of Philippians. Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – these are the things on which God wants us to dwell. Paul goes on to say that he has “learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”

Daily I need to open my heart to whatever. Whatever God has for our school, whatever the duration of our distance learning, whatever the trials we’re having to endure – we still believe, we are still faithful, we will still love Him wholeheartedly. Whatever difficulties or blessings are evident in our homes, we will seek to do the next right thing. With hands open to whatever, we will make good decisions, we will construct good plans, and we will seek to do whatever pleases God.

When will we open again for campus learning? What will our end-of-year celebrations look like? Will we get to experience our school traditions again together this year? There is no one who wants to return to school more than I do.  Yet whatever the rest of our school year holds, we will work to meet each other’s needs, to love each other well, and to prepare our students faithfully.

I invite you to join me in a whole-hearted and active pursuit of whatever.