Monday, October 2, 2017

Let Darkness Fear

When a nine year old looks up at you with fear and confusion in their eyes, asking, "Why would somebody do that," how do you respond?

I woke up this morning to my phone full of news notifications about the Vegas shooting. I was shocked, confused, and sick to my stomach as I read the news headlines.

It's not comprehendible to me, let alone a child. How can we ever understand how someone could be full of so much hate and evil? How do we respond to hate? How do we respond to a violence and evil like this? How do we respond when thousands of lost people are now wondering how a good God could ever exist when this kind of evil takes place in our world? I feel helpless as I consider these thoughts.

But, as I drove to school in the dark this morning, these words rang through the speakers:

Build Your kingdom here
Let the darkness fear
Show Your mighty hand
Heal our streets and land
Set your church on fire
Win this nation back
Change the atmosphere
Build Your kingdom here
We pray...

Unleash Your kingdom's power
Reaching the near and far
No force of hell can stop
Your beauty changing hearts
-Rend Collective, Build Your Kingdom Here

No force of hell can stop the power of God's hand changing hearts and changing lives.
No mass shooting, no hatred, no violence, or evil can defeat, diminish, or take away the power of the cross.

So how do we respond?

We pray. We hope. We love.

We pray for healing. Healing for the injured, healing for the broken-hearted after losing loved ones, and healing for those who directly experienced this horrifying event.
We pray for our nation. That in this darkness we will turn towards the light. That we will find hope greater than any darkness. That we will join together and put our differences, beliefs, and opinions aside so we can heal and unite.

We hope in God's promises and we share that hope to the hurting, lost, and confused. We hope in the face of fear as we question evil and heartlessness.

We love despite hate. We put aside all our differences and serve one another. Help one another. Show compassion to one another. Get to know one another and build relationships that overcome hate. Love one another.

Cause darkness and hate to fear in the face of a love stronger than any evil. Let darkness fear the power of the cross changing hearts and changing our world.

It disheartens me to read comments from people already turning this tragedy into support for their political agendas. Can't we take the time to mourn and come together as ONE nation, even just for a moment? It will take so much more than politics and government to heal our nation.

Pray. Hope. Love.

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." 
-Psalm 46:1-3




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