Peanut Learns To Dance, How one girl's tragedy transformed the Christian community

Beyond tragedy to transformation! There is nothing new about losing a loved one. Frankly it happens all the time. We can go online and order a book by any number of people who have faced tragedy. These people wrote about their struggles with the loss and how they were able to turn it into something good. If the tragedy occurred to someone famous, the outpouring of love and support is huge. Thousands of supporters contact them to help. Cards, letters, money pour in, and they are able to do something amazing to honor their loved one. A hospital wing might be added; perhaps a library might be dedicated. People point to the misfortune and say how God was able to turn something bad into something good. But what happens when the loss occurs to people in a small community where no one outside of that community has ever heard of them? What if the good that God wants to perform is not nearly as visible as a hospital wing yet far more eternal? What if, rather than helping the individual get through the loss, God is more interested in shaking the foundations of His church so that He can rebuild it in a new and better form? That's the story here. God took the tragic death of a miracle child and performed a miraculous transformation of His church. He used the events surrounding this death to knock down denominational walls and preconceived ideas of believers in a small community to reform the church into a fellowship of believers simply attending His church in different buildings. "That they may be one" was the prayer of Jesus, and it is the true story of this account. Gary Besaw is a programmer/analyst for General Electric. He has served in many capacities at his local church, substituted for pastors throughout Northern New England, and filled various leadership roles in Royal Rangers. He and his wife, Cindy, have done a wide variety of training on different topics and have most recently focused on developing workshops dealing with tragedy from a biblical viewpoint. Gary and Cindy reside in North Clarendon, Vermont, while their children Kim and Jim are currently attending college.