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So I’ve been processing the shootings at Virginia Tech now for over a week. I think I’ve gone from shock and awe to fear and trembling to pain and suffering. So I have some questions for anyone reading:
How do you deal with the fact that 33 young lives were ended in one day, in one place, not too far from you?
Where does God fit? Where is God when this kind of thing happens? Or, where was he the very moment this was taking place?
Did this tragedy change your life…or are you very quickly back to the same old thing?
interested in your thoughts…
This brought me back to eight years ago, when I was reading a letter written by a friend asking for prayer as she ministered to the students at Columbine. Where is God?? I believe He is right alongside us, in tears with us. I believe He is broken hearted but He will bind up the broken hearted and sends us to do that as well. It’s easy to respond in anger, or to just go on with our lives. We need to let things like this sink in and change us. Though I never could imagine I’d say this - Go Hokies!
I’ve been thinking a lot about the VT tragedy and have heard many perspectives on it. The one thing I know for sure is that God is not the author of evil, satan is and sinful man. And there are just some things that we will never have the answer to this side of heaven. I also know that God is the author and creator of life. The Bible says that God (and only God) knows the number of days that are ordained for every person before birth. Therefore, we should all live each day like it’s our last because we don’t know what tomorrow holds. We should love each other, be kind to each other, and forgive each other. We need each other.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
-Matthew 6:34
This verse is a testament to what Donna said about living each day as though it were your last, live each day to its fullest.
I know right after this happened, I contacted everyone I know there to make sure they were all safe. Once I knew they were all all right, the tragedy no longer really affected me all that much. I dunno why but this didn’t really hit me all that hard. Perhaps I’m just growing numb to all the trouble in the world. I don’t rightly know yet. I suppose I would be in a much harder place had someone I know been involved. I guess I fall into the category of “falling back into the same old thing”. It kinda bothers me too.
Two times I was really affected by this:
1) When I first saw all the faces of the victims on TV.
2) When I read the list of names of the victims and was terrified that I’d see someone I knew.
Patrick, it is interesting to think about the fact that this type of incident, though tragic, is a daily occurence in other parts of the world. I was talking with a friend of mine after this and he was pretty mad about it and he said, “only in America man, this stuff doesn’t happen anywhere else.” And I thought, “are you nuts??!!” Look at North Korea, Iraq, Sudan, and I’m sure the list goes on. There are crazy and terrible things happening all around our world. This is what I think is part of the task of the Christian and of the church - to bring abotu social justice world-wide. I’ll be posting about this issue soon…thanks for your comments!