Only a few steps from home, Zachary was stabbed to death in his wagon shortly after 1 p.m. on Thursday, March 27. Zachary's 59 year old next door neighbor stands accused of his murder.

Disturbing documentation gathered over the past six years shows the accused, Lucia Piovesan, was a wildly delusional lady. Analysts speculate her own loss of a son through an untimely 1991 death from AIDS fueled her dangerous psyche. Her conclusions from and choices in grief had slipped from the realm of healthy process.

Newspapers play a unique role during tragedies like this. Their detailed content and photos of crime and reaction become part of the thread that weaves community together over issues of pain. As stories are shared with the kind of openness that the families involved in this calamity have exhibited, there is the possibility for a glimmer of hope to enter into darkness. Connections can be created, walls that divide people can be broken down, and in time, a journey to healing can be launched.

Zachary's godmother invited us into that journey when in her tearful eulogy to her little godchild she declared, "The evil that stole Zachary cannot be allowed to win."

Her assertion is profound.

Last spring I attended a course on "Evil, Suffering and God" at McMaster Divinity College because like Zachary's godmother, I cannot stand the thought of evil being allowed to win. I went to school looking for answers, and in the classroom of theoretical study we traveled through weighty texts, and gripping dialogue with fellow students who shared of their own encounters with evil and suffering.

I wanted desperately to find solutions and escape for pain, but discovered instead that facing evil and suffering is about process, but not about escape.

Psychologist and author Dr. Larry Crabb verbalizes this reality. Drowning in the grief of his brother being killed in a plane crash he writes that it was then he realized with terrible clarity that he, along with all of us, "was out of the Garden of Eden and had no way back in."

My personal conclusion is that all darkness should serve to walk us toward light. It's a spiritual law of the universe; pursuit of healing means we continually walk toward light - the light of God.

How does that work out practically ?

In the tragedy of Zachary's death we must choose to take the pain of evil and suffering and walk it toward light. Analyze what's happening, and direct thoughts, emotions and action toward God's healing character of light, not evil's darkness.

Part of that is to pray for the families involved. Zachary's young parents both have careers in the business of repairing broken people. Those who knew them describe their life as one of "love, goodness, and togetherness." Pray God strengthens their marriage. Ask God to restore and build strength for their careers. Pray for their sorrow.

Very likely someone is reading this whose own loved one suffers with mental illness and you relate to the pain of the accused murderer and her family. You know you cannot give up the daily fight to walk toward healing. Pray there will be effective inquiry into why a woman's mental health demise could be documented in courts and healthcare avenues and still proceed without remedy.

In Genesis 50:20, the character of Joseph looks at the very wrong intended to destroy him and walks it toward the light of God. Acting as a government authority in the land of Egypt, he stands before brothers who decades earlier had sold him as a slave and declares;

"You intended to harm me, God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."

That is the character of God at work - harm being redeemed into help. Let's pray this reality will flourish in the aftermath of Zachary's death. Because as was said so well at Zachary's funeral; "evil cannot be allowed to win."