Virginia, the state that I call home, is observing a Day of Mourning in honor of the 32 students and faculty slain in a shooting rampage on the campus of Virginia Tech University earlier this week.

I live in the metro Richmond area, where Governor Tim Kaine's office issued a request for state residents to embrace the 'orange and maroon effect,'  and honor the Tech victims by wearing their school colors.

When I leave home today to attend several meetings, run errands and pick up my children from school, I'm expecting to encounter a sea of those colors. Across the nation, scores of individuals will be similarly attired, and my family is in the number.

However, with Tech being one of the state's top schools, it seems as if every other person I encounter in my local area has a personal connection to the university.

Several of my friends are Tech graduates, and the parents of many of my children's friends are as well.

One of the young men slain in Monday morning's shooting rampage attended a high school in my neighborhood.  There will be a memorial service for him there this weekend.  He was just two weeks away from receiving a master's degree in engineering.

Another student, a Tech freshman, graduated last year from an area Christian high school where plans are underway to honor her memory.  The media have shared stories about her wonderful spirit and powerful faith, an attribute that has given her loved ones the comfort of knowing she is heavenbound.

I've read stories about several other victims who were also well-regarded Christians, and I continue to hear about students who might have been victims if they had arrived on campus a little earlier or made different decisions about how to start their day.

Of course, there are also the questions: How could God let this happen? What kind of God could be this cruel?

Similar queries arose after the other national tragedies we have commemorated this week - a shooting rampage eight years ago today at Columbine High School in Colorado; the April 19 anniversary of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings.

The only certain answer is that God walks through the valley with us, and that when we weep, so does He. 

We have the free will to serve Him or not, and those who decide the latter often seem to win.

Yet even when we can't see how or understand in what ways, we have to trust the truth in God's Word, which insists that His goodness, grace and mercy will stand forever.  Faith in God's promises reassures us that in the end, evil cannot and will not prevail over the Master's divine love.

As we mourn these young people and their instructors, as we mourn the loss of their potential and the beauty of their lives, we can be thankful for the outpouring of support other Tech students and their families continue to receive from around the world.

We can be grateful that even when something this tragic darkens our days, the light of God's love can still shine through - in our prayers, in our loving actions and even by wearing orange and maroon.

Phillipians 4: 5b-7  - The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.