Some thoughts on tragedy

I've struggled with the news today. 27 people dead in a Connecticut elementary school. 20 of them students.

My wife is a teacher in an elementary school. My daughter is 4 years old and just a year younger than some of the victims. My high school experienced a hostage situation featuring an armed killer.

All of that converged on me today as I became gripped by the news of this tragedy.

I felt instant compassion for those parents and that community. I sensed fear and concern as I thought of my wife, even today, teaching young children in a supposedly safe environment. I felt a kinship with the surviving students and mourned the loss of their innocence.

I couldn't watch the news coverage. I decided to take the night off and spent it with family. We went to dinner and looked at Christmas lights. We needed that time together. I needed it.

As I think about today, I remember something I read in the book Wild at Heart. It basically said why do we try to find blame or a reason bad things happen. Sometimes it's just evil and we have to acknowledge evil exists in the world.

In my mind, there is no doubt: this is evidence of evil in the world. You can blame guns. You can make psychological arguments. You can try to decipher what happened. You can't. This is evil.

Evil is real. It exists. It takes many forms and today it took the lives of 26 innocent people. It took the childhood of hundreds more. It took the security of thousands of parents around the nation. It took the joy from millions around the country.

Today is a sad day. For one day, evil has triumphed.

Yet, it take comfort in knowing evil does not win in the end. Good does overcome evil. Jesus is victorious.

Today I pray for the town of Newtown. I weep for that community.

And I hug my girl a little tighter. I squeeze my wife's hand a little firmer. I rejoice in my family a little extra emphatic. I pray a little more earnestly.

Dear Jesus, heal us. Bring victory. Don't let evil win.

And then, I smile. He is, after all, the only hope I have.

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