Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Rudolph coming this Sunday...
Saturday, December 15, 2012
A Response to Sandy Hook...
Several
times in my ministry we have faced tragedy in our nation. Perhaps the first was in 1999 with the school
shooting in Columbine High School. I
wasn’t here in Almond yet, but that was something that shook the country. How could a student be so angry, so hateful,
so out of control, that he would take a gun to school and shoot his fellow
students.
In
2007, On the campus of Viginia Tech, we saw the most gruesome and deadly of
these school shootings, when student brought a gun to class and killed 33. And again, we asked the question, How could a
student be so angry, so hateful, so out of control, that he would take a gun to
school and shoot his fellow students.
This
year, in Aurora Colorado, James Holmes opens fire in a crowded movie theater,
killing 14, and injuring over 50.
Even
more recently, a gunman opens fire in a busy shopping mall in the Portland
Oregon area.
And
then yesterday. The shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. And we have to ask the question again, How
can a person be so angry, so hateful, so out of control, that he would take
a gun to school and shoot that many kids.
I don’t know about you, but I have to ask why? What it is that has got this man so angry, so
frustrated, so hopeless, that this mass shooting sounded like his best course
of action.
Of
all of these shootings, I think yesterdays was the worst. Why was this one harder to accept, not that
any are easy to accept. Perhaps it was
because this one wasn’t a student, he came onto campus from the outside. He didn’t belong there. Perhaps it was because the students were so
young, this was an elementary school – the victims were all under 10, the
majority in first grade, that would make them just 6 or so.
Why? Why do we keep seeing this kind of evil? Why does God allow this evil to happen. Do you ask yourself these questions? I do.
And
while I won’t go into any possible answers, I will say, that when I see this
evil, I’m reminded of something going on around us that’s bigger than us. I’m reminded that this is a fallen world, and
we’re all fallen people. God’s
forgiveness is available to any who humble themselves and seek God, but we’re
fallen people in a fallen world.
And
I’m reminded that there is evil in this world.
And that we can’t navigate this world without help. God’s help.
We need Him. Because we’re
fallen. We need a Savior.
He
didn’t cause this unspeakable horror we heard about yesterday. In fact, I believe there were tears in His
eyes as it unfolded. Tears because Adam
Lanza needed God, and He would never know the peace and forgiveness available
to him. But truth be told, I need God,
too. We all need the peace and
forgiveness only God can offer.
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