Barry Loudermilk: “I thank my good friend for this moment. Mr. Speaker, I think back to that day. At noon, when we gathered in this…”

“I thank my good friend for this moment. Mr. Speaker, I think back to that day. At noon, when we gathered in this Chamber, I sat right over here in the front row. Speaker Paul Ryan went to the podium, and as was said already, he said that an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. As I look around the Chamber, not much has changed from that day to today. The carpet is the same. The chairs are the same. Some of the people are the same, but none of us who were on the field that day are the same. It has had an impact on all of us. As you just heard Coach Williams tell his story, Mr. Speaker, we all have the same story but different perspectives. Some of it is that, physically, we were in different locations, as I was in a different location than Representative Wenstrup, who was in a different location than our coach, but we all experienced the same thing. One thing that you will hear, Mr. Speaker, that is consistent are the miracles that happened that day. One of the things that this has had an impact on me, as we have all dealt with some level of traumatic stress afterward, but this has built my faith. Hebrews 11:1 says that ``faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen.'' {time} 1845 None of us saw angels on the field deflecting bullets that day. None of us were there when an angel spoke to the groundskeeper the night before and impressed upon him to lock the gate on the third-base side of that field.…”