Betrayal and Death

A brother will betray his brother to death,

a father will betray his own child...

Matthew 10:21

The sun is peeking through my office window this morning bring cheer and warmth, but in the state of Washington, tragedy and grief darken the skies of at least one family today.  The saga of the Powell family has been in and out of the news since the mother, Susan Powell, disappeared in December of 2009 when her two sons were just toddlers.  The unfolding story was both tragic and bizarre:

• Susan Powell disappeared while her husband, Josh, took their two boys, ages 4 and 2, on a camping trip.
• Josh Powell claimed no knowledge of the disappearance of his wife
• Steven Powell, Josh's father, claimed that Susan was falling in love with him, intimated a sexual relationship, and suggested she ran away with another man.
• In 2010, Josh Powell and the boys moved to Washington to live with his father.
• In 2011, Steven Powell was arrested for voyeurism and pornography; he took pictures of his daughter-in-law and other neighborhood women and girls undressing and using the toilet and shower.
• The two Powell boys were removed from the home and put in the custody of their maternal grandparents.
• Josh Powell asked the court for the return of custody of his children.  This last week, the court denied his request and ordered him to submit to psychological testing.
• On Sunday, the two children arrived at Powell's home with a social worker for a supervised visit.  Josh Powell barred the social worker from entering the house, then locked the door with the children inside.
• The social worker called her supervisor, reporting the situation and the smell of gas.
• Moments later, the house exploded and Josh Powell and his children died in the conflagration.

I did not think this heart-rending story could get any worse until I clicked onto CNN Internet News this morning, and read the latest developments:  the oldest boy had just recently drawn a picture in school and verbalized to his grandparents that when they went on that fateful camping trip in 2009,  their father was driving, they were in their car seats, and "Mommy was in the trunk;"  when the house fire cooled and the authorities were allowed to retrieve the bodies, the children were found to have chopping injuries to the head and neck from a hatchet lying nearby.  Apparently their father attacked the boys almost immediately after they entered the house, then burned the house down on top of them while they were still alive.

Josh Powell's last communication by telephone stated that he "could not live without his sons."  This man's tortured mind could only process his own pain, guilt, needs and wants.  He was no longer capable of thinking about what his sons might want for their own lives, or the terror of being killed by their own father.  The last few moments of those little boy's lives - running across the lawn toward their dad, will stay in the memory of that social worker for the rest of her life.  There was nothing she could have done to stop this tragedy, but it will be years before she will come to terms with that.

What can be done to stop such horrific tragedies from happening to innocent children?  Families, relatives, schools, churches, social services, mental health units, courts and judges try to keep a lid on the narcissism and insanity that swirls through our adult society, but eventually the devil will collect his due.  God's tears surely mix with ours as we acknowledge that the further we get away from Him and His unconditional love, the more our souls shrivel and our ability to truly love diminishes away.