Jason O'Keefe stepped up to the mound at Desert Christian High School. He gripped the

ball, let it fly. Four years after his big sister Michelle was murdered, for the year

to go in high school, Jason was an ace pitcher, six feet four inches tall, with serious,

college and pro prospects. And he looked apart, but with his strong chin and that cropped

hair with a slick back cullic. Still, the passing of years hadn't done much to keep the

grief at bay. Really the only thing that helped that I that I used to help me get through

it, I guess, was baseball. But really, there was no getting over it. He'd idolized her,

his big sister, his protector, and she'd been so happy, zipping around in her Christmas

present Mustang. The Michelle was shot to death in that bright blue car so close to home.

Well, who in his place could get over a thing like that? Made worse by the outrage that

there had been no arrest, so he immersed himself in baseball and it helped. As did a powerful

sense of belief he carried around with him, like a shield. After my sister died, I started

carrying a Bible over. I went no matter what, whether it was on the baseball field or not,

I had to pocket Bible and back my pocket. He'd been given a Bible verse two years after the murder.

It became his favorite. Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 11. Before I know the plans I have for you

declares the Lord, plans for you to prosper, plans for your success and plans for your future.

Jason had scrived the verse inside his baseball cap. We end to share it with others.

Let's say you get through it. And, you know, take a day by day, you know.

So, yes, this story is about surviving or trying to. But it's also about the very tricky business

of learning to read conflicting signs by turns obvious and opaque in the shifting light of the

high desert. It just means that your true eyes that are doing the work on right now.

Yes, and it was ambiguous and confusing and absolutely demanding.

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