Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the victims of the senseless tragedy at Virginia Tech yesterday. These students were preparing for their future, in an institution of higher learning, and it was cruelly and viciously taken from them. When these kinds of things happen, we are left to wonder what minds the world was deprived of yesterday. Was there an Einstein in that classroom? Or a Martin Luther King? Was there a Mother Theresa? Were there Christians who were planning to work for the increase of God's kingdom?
I am particularly aware of tragedies such as this around this time of year because it is around my birthday (April 20th). In 1999, on my 21st birthday, I awoke to the awful news of Columbine, and for me that day is always associated with it. On April 19, 1993 the Waco tragedy occurred and on April 19th, 1995 the Oklahoma City bombing occurred. The irony of these life ending events is that they occurred in springtime, the season of new birth, the Easter season. It is a harsh reminder for us that while Jesus has resurrected, the final enemy of death has yet to be completely abolished.
In times like these, the question one often hears is: "Where is God in all this? Why does God let this kind of thing happen?" The answer, which we often do not want to hear, is that our sin is what causes this. The first humans turned from God's loving offer of a relationship and humanity has been in pain ever since. Incredibly, God continues to pursue us - he did in the incarnation and he continues to with the Spirit. The shooting yesterday is not, in my opinion, God's judgment on our sins so much as it is the natural consequences of life lived apart from God.
Pray for the families of the victims this day. Pray for the family of the shooter this day. And as always, pray for peace.
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Please take a look at the pictures on my blog. This was the response of the students at the Auburn Wesley Foundation and the AU campus. More details on the page...
i really enjoyed these words of your post, and may use them if and when i hear or think to myself "Where is God in this?" - -
"In times like these, the question one often hears is: "Where is God in all this? Why does God let this kind of thing happen?" The answer, which we often do not want to hear, is that our sin is what causes this. The first humans turned from God's loving offer of a relationship and humanity has been in pain ever since. Incredibly, God continues to pursue us - he did in the incarnation and he continues to with the Spirit. The shooting yesterday is not, in my opinion, God's judgment on our sins so much as it is the natural consequences of life lived apart from God."
THanks Jackson
Good thoughts Jackson, in thinking about this, I thought about how the first story after the fall involves a murder, I remember Dr. Arnold once saying that the worse tragedy in scripture is when a person made in God's image dies.
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