Mount Pleasant Magazine Nov/Dec 2019

62 www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.BestOfMP.com | www.ReadMPM.com feature “T here is a specific beauty to a weathered tree. The beauty isn’t in its perfection but in its ability to remain alive in spite of the elements of drought, disease, heat, frost, and wind. A weathered tree takes what is thrown at it and survives. It doesn’t allow the elements to define it but lives within and eventually through those elements to find life on the other side.” I read this quote from a book entitled “A Grace Disguised” shortly after my son and I found ourselves being shot in the midst of an armed robbery in February 2018. My name is Mike Cooke, and I am the pastor of Life Community Church in Mount Pleasant. My son, Bryan Cooke, was killed during that attempted robbery. I BY REVEREND MIKE COOKE A Road to Recovery OvercomingTragedy Mike and Lynda Cooke celebrated Easter with their children and grandchildren in happier times before tragedy struck. Photo c ourtesy of the Cooke Family.