Love from Tragedy

People around the country and around the world were shocked by the massacre at Virginia Tech on Monday. It was almost too enormous to grasp. As the largest mass murder in the United States, it will remain a marker of sorts for the depths of evil.

How could it happen? Well, the answer is that we live in a fallen world and there are evil people who are determined to have their way. How can we make our schools safe for our children? The truth is, we can’t.

My heart grieves with the parents and friends of those slain. I can’t imagine the terror those young adults and teachers felt in the last seconds of their lives. I truly am not minimizing the horror of the massacre – for that is what it was. It was horrible and should never have happened. But it did.

Man’s persecution, torture, and execution of man is a common thread throughout history. And while we Americans find comfort in knowing we live in one of the most civilized countries in the world, that doesn’t exclude us from pain and suffering. Maybe the question should be why shouldn’t it happen here?

Bad things happen to good people. No amount of gun laws – or any other laws for that matter – will provide us 100 percent protection. They never have and they never will.

However, that doesn’t leave us without hope. And it doesn’t minimize our responsibility to reach out to those who are hurting with that message of hope.

Whether or not we know those left grieving from this tragedy doesn’t mean we offer condolences from afar. What it should mean is that we re-double our efforts to share Christ with everyone. Whether it’s our next-door neighbor or a stranger, our hearts must be burdened with the need to reach the lost.

Only by loving others can we begin to show them the Truth found in faith and the hope found in God.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13, NIV

Blessings, Francine
 
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