Words are not adequate to express the deep sorrow and
sadness that permeates the tragedy that happened in Newton Connecticut. Two things come to my mind as I try to
process this horrible event. First, is the degree of grief for those who lost
precious children and loved ones. As I
type this blog, Natalie is in flight from the U.S. to Australia for her
Christmas break. The plane cannot go
fast enough for this father to embrace his daughter again. Thinking of the families who have lost that
chance seems almost unbearable. The
level of grief, anger, frustration and the replaying of the day’s events would
send even a strong person into despair.
My heart goes out to those families.
I pray for God’s presence to overwhelm them. For those who in the midst of this crisis who
don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus, my hope is that Christ-Followers
will surround them, grieve with them, love them, and appropriately point them
to Jesus.
The other thought is the depth of brokenness we live with in
this world. Behind the acts of violence
and murder was a broken, troubled, and very confused young man. What was his past? What was going through his
mind as he pulled the trigger repeatedly?
What level of deception had overcome his mind to act with such random violence
that changed the lives of so many parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents,
aunts, uncles, neighbors, teachers, and friends? He was someone’s son, brother, nephew,
neighbor, and friend. How many people
will look back and wonder if there was anything they could have done to somehow
impact his life? There is so much to
process with this. I can’t help but
think how God’s heart is breaking for not only the victims and their families but also for the
perpetrator who demonstrated yet another convincing act that reminds us all,
life has gotten so far out of whack from what God intended.
When tragedy like this occurs I wonder how I would respond
if this happened in my family? Then, I
wonder how I would respond if this happened in my community? I hope I would respond with the grace, love,
and appropriateness of Jesus. I, and I
know a lot of you reading this; pray that God’s will, would be done on earth as
it is in heaven. One of our
responsibilities as followers of Jesus is to live, love, and act in such as way
that brings up there, down here. I don’t
want to wait for a tragedy to nudge me in that mission. Who knows whom I may impact away from acting
out evil? My prayer is that each day I
will pursue life to that end…bringing up there, down here!
Be assured of His Presence even in dark times,
Marty
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