"She was a creative, beautiful girl who loved playing with her little brothers..." "We cannot imagine our life without her. We are mourning her loss, sharing our beautiful memories we have of her, and trying to help her brother understand why he can't play with his best friend."
On December 14th, 2012 tragedy hit the town of Newport, Connecticut. A 20 year old gunman stormed into an elementary school and killed 20 children and 6 adults including his mother.
Precious lives were taken. Precious children, who had their whole life in front of them, were killed.
And now a couple days after the massacre the stories about each person are coming out. As I read about each individual, I just couldn't help but cry. Why did this happen? Why God? Those are some of the questions that many people are asking. Who would kill innocent children? I don't have the answers and I can't speak about why God allowed this to happen. But I do know that God has something to say to us.
A couple things I want to talk about to offer hope in this awful situation.
1) God does not promise us an easy life.
We have a tendency to put our hope in the people and the things of this world. We often look to this world to fulfill us. But Scripture tells us in 1 John 2:15-17, "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-comes not from the Father but from the world. the world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever" (NIV).
If there is anything that the shootings in Connecticut can do for us is to wake us up. The shooting tells us that our lives are fragile. Anything can happen. We could die or our loved ones could die. We are foolish if we put our ultimate hope in this world.
2) Everyone has a story.
In other words, people matter. The twenty year old shooter did not value human life and he took 26 human lives in a couple minutes. But God graciously gave those people life. He created them in His own image. And God has made all of us in his own image. We all have stories of joy, success, and failures. We all have fears, hopes, and dreams. Every person in this world matters, and should be pointed to the only One who can satisfy.
3) Jesus is the treasure.
This shooting happened right in the middle of advent, the time when Christians all over the world prepare to celebrate the coming of the Savior into this world. Where do we turn for hope? Do we just hope things will get better? God tells us to put our hope in Him. He tells us to come to Him for life and everlasting joy.
God, the Father, sent his only Son to this sinful world to die. To die for his enemies. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" Romans 5:8 (NIV). That tells us something about the heart of God. He cares about us. He's not going to leave us alone. He chose to respond to our sinfulness and brokenness. Jesus came to this earth humbly, living a perfect life for us, dying in our place on the cross to pay for our sins, and he rose again triumphantly defeating sin, Satan, and death for all who place their faith in Him! Wow!
The events of this past weekend have left me heartbroken that so many lives were taken and so many families will have to spend this Christmas without their precious child or friend right next to them. It is so sad. But there is hope for us. Jesus Christ is an ever present Savior, responding to our brokenness with his grace.
These events have reminded me that this world is a bad savior, our lives are precious, and Jesus Christ deserves my full devotion and trust.
