What Can I Say?

It's difficult to know how to respond or what to think or feel when something like the Sandy Hook shooting takes place. It felt like Sept. 11 again, except then, all I could think was, "Where is God?" Then, I did not have children to whom I must somehow explain evil that I myself could not understand.

Last Friday was different. I knew where God was. He was in that school, in the courage of the principal and her staff. He was in the words "I love you," from a terrified young teacher who wanted her students' last moments on earth to be about love, not terror. He was in the hearts of the first responders, manifested as bravery and compassion. He was there welcoming 20 precious children, one by one, into His waiting arms. He is, even now, at the hospital, in the hands of doctors and nurses caring for the wounded. He is in the churches, offering comfort to anyone who will come. He is in the homes of grieving families, His Holy Spirit upon them as the Comforter, crying out on their behalf to the Father, even when they have no words. He is in every mother's heart, including mine, saying "Come to me, and teach your children to come to me. I love you so much, and this is not what I want for your lives."

The only words I had for my daughter? I told her that, above all, we must cling to our relationship with Jesus. It's all we have. No one can take it away from us, not even Satan. And beyond that, we must share Him with others. Why? Because He is our only hope in a sick and broken world. Where else can we go?

Jesus told us plainly that we would suffer in this world, but He promised never to leave us. He also said He has overcome the world. Satan won a battle on Friday - for a young man's soul as well as for those who will now turn away from God in their grief and dismay - but the enemy cannot win the war. Evil will never trump Love. It can't. Christ ensured that with his own blood.

What would the world be like if Christ had not come into it as a baby so many years ago? It would be a string of December fourteenths...death, destruction and pain would be our only experience on this earth. God rescued us from such condemnation.

Thank God.

On Friday night, my daughter and I joined a bunch of kids from her neighborhood Bible study in Christmas caroling. One precious neighbor, recently widowed, stood at her front door with a cell phone held up to capture the kids' voices for her friend, living in a nursing home in another state.
It was a small, simple gesture, but God was there, too. We took back December 14, and we defiantly celebrated the birth of Jesus, our Rescuer. Love cannot be stopped.

How are you talking to your children about this?

Please remember the families of Newtown in your prayers daily. Let us be His hands and feet in their lives and in the lives of the people around us who suffer. Talk to someone about his or her spiritual walk, especially the children He has placed in your life.