In the wake of overwhelmingly tragic events last week, it has taken me many days to process how I was feeling. Immediately, I was so sad and angry. I was angry for the needless loss of innocence and life. I prayed for the families of everyone lost - everyone. The whole event in Newtown, CT is impossible to understand. Even if we knew all of the details, every thought in the shooter's mind, it still wouldn't make sense. As I thought about the little lives cut short and the brave teachers who tried to save their children, I cried along with many of you, I know. Feeling at a loss for what to do, I turned to a God who is still perfect and still in control - even in a world that is spinning out of control. I prayed and continue to pray.
I know that God is in Newtown. He was present during the shooting, heartbroken, but ready to welcome home those souls. Why He didn't intervene before it happened is something I cannot understand, except to say that He has given us free will. He is not a "cosmic puppeteer" pulling strings and controlling us. He is a loving Father, calling us to love Him, to love Jesus and to love each other.
It is Christmastime. It's a time when evil should not happen. Yet, evil is exactly what made Christmas necessary. Injustice never takes a holiday. Sin, which is so much of what evil is, separates us from God - has created a chasm that we cannot cross, a debt that we can never pay. God, in his incredible mercy, sent Jesus to be the sacrifice necessary to pay the debt that we all owe - to redeem us from ourselves, to snatch us from the claws of the enemy. His child, God's Son, is the perfect sacrifice for every sin, the substitute for every sinner. But He does not force us to accept Him, we must choose Him. At this time of the year, it is more important than ever to look at the Christmas story with fresh eyes and realize that Jesus' birth was part of God's redemptive plan for all of mankind.
Nothing you have done is too big to be covered by the blood of Jesus. The babe in the manger is the same man who died on the cross to bring you home to God. I pray for those in Newtown, that this Christmas they will find comfort, peace and healing in the arms of the Perfect Healer. I pray for You and for Me too - that this Christmas we would remember, or know for the first time, that the arms of God are open and waiting for us to enter into the relationship that will bring salvation, peace, and serenity far beyond what we could ever know apart from Him.
Merry Christmas!
