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She Said Yes - The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie BernallSHE SAID YES: the unlikely martyrdom of Cassie Bernall Since April 20 1999, Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, has become notorious as the site of the shooting of 13 students by two of their classmates. But from this tragedy a story has emerged which is surprising and challenging people all over the world. Cassie Bernall was one of those killed in the school's main library, where a boy called Josh, who was crouching under a desk near Cassie, heard what the killers asked her before she was shot. He later recounted this to Cassie's family: 'I couldn't see anything when those guys came up to Cassie, but I could recognise her voice. I could hear everything like it was right next to me. One of them asked her if she believed in God, She paused, like she didn't know what she was going to answer, and then she said yes. She must have been scared, but her voice didn't sound shaky. It was strong. Then they asked her why, though they didn't give her a chance to respond. They just blew her away.' This testimony to her faith and courage is so amazing that the cynics among us will claim that it could not have happened, or at least that the panic in the library would have prevented anyone from hearing what was said correctly. The purpose of this book, written by Cassie's mother, is to show that her last words were completely consistent with her character, and were the natural response of a girl who was living daily for Christ. Cassie's life had been turned around by God - three years earlier, her mother had discovered letters and drawings in her room describing the various grisly ways in which she was planning to murder her parents. They were horrified, and as they started to investigate Cassie's personal and social life, they discovered the full extent of her involvement with drugs, alcohol and satanic rituals. In an attempt to save their daughter and win her back to the family, they began to discipline her strictly, sending her to a Christian school and monitoring her closely. Despite her rage, despair, screaming fits and threats of suicide, the Bernalls were patient with her. The breakthrough came on a church weekend, where Cassie met with God and asked for forgiveness. Her father describes the change in her: 'When she left she had still been this gloomy, head-down, say-nothing girl. But the day she came back she was bouncy and excited about what had happened to her. It was if she had been in a dark room, and somebody had turned the light on.' From then on, Cassie lived to follow Christ. A note she wrote to a friend at her new school, Columbine, the morning she was killed, said: 'P.S. Honestly, I want to live completely for God, It's hard and scary, but totally worth it.' The book is harrowing, but inspiring and challenging. Misty Bernall does not present her daughter as a saint, but as an ordinary girl transformed by grace. Sara Carson,
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