The grief that has shocked the nation, even the entire world, seemingly taking our hearts out and crushing them before our eyes, has come close to my home. An event such as this does not just affect the parents and local community; no, it reaches out with its tentacles and lays hold of grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and dear friends across the country with a tenacity that can only be described as verocious. Like an unstoppable cancer, it spreads across the country, destroying relationships and changing lives forever.
My daughter and her husband have been close friends with a couple in their church for years, and it is this couple that has lost a niece in the tragedy. The husband of this couple is the brother of the mother of one of the slain girls. This couple have children of their own, and their daughter has been very good friends with my granddaughter for years, so I have a 10-year-old granddaughter who is learning a hard lesson about the horrible realities of life as her own parents deal with the suffering of their friends. At the same time, my granddaughter is showing her strength and compassion to her friend Jordan at the loss of Jordan's 6-year-old cousin. Countless other people across this nation are also suffering the results of one person's incomprehensible fatal choice.
My office is located close to a shooting range, and on nice days, which we've enjoyed this week, I sit in my car and enjoy the sunshine during my lunch break. I don't usually pay attention to the sound of guns in the distance, but I do now. I understand the description of the shots as popping sounds, for that's what they are. Even though I know the place down the street is for sport, I can't help but think that they are using for personal enjoyment and pleasure instruments that were chosen to annihilate defenseless children. Just as fire can be beneficial or destructive beyond belief, so too can guns be for fun or for death. It all depends on who holds the gun in his or her hand and the choices they make.
I've been following the news closely, as has almost everyone, and don't understand the frenzy to purchase the style of gun that was turned on our most precious possession, our children, by the shooter. I don't understand the "need" for a law-abiding citizen to own a gun. Surely the statistics would support my belief that few of us, even in high-crime areas, are ever threatened in our own homes. And I believe the statistics would support the fact that more children are accidentally killed by other children in their homes, their place of assumed safety, than are perpetrators of evil who break into homes. The more guns we have, the more frequently this will continue to occur.
I read an article the other night on-line somewhere (as you, I've read and heard so much that I can't keep some bits of information straight) that Newtown/Sandy Hook were taking down their Christmas decorations, and my heart cried out, "NO! Don't take down the decorations! You still have other children who need Christmas!" This is the time of year when we celebrate the birth of Christ, the Saviour of the world, and if we put aside this time of celebration, even when we suffer incomprehensible loss, evil wins. Our remaining children still need Christmas, and this Christmas in particular, even though it will be different.
Good needs to overcome evil, especially now. "The thief comes not but to steal, to kill and to destroy; I am come that you may have life, and that you might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10) Yes, this act was one of evil perpetrated by the enemy of our souls, whose sole purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. Through God alone will we find life, and not just existence, but abundant life.
Jesus said, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) It's a sure thing that we will have tribulation in this world, and losing a child in such an unimaginable event is undoubtedly one of the most heart-rendering events a human can endure, yet through Christ we can overcome because HE has overcome, including death.
So how do we make sense of these two verses of scripture? How do we analyze and understand that Jesus came to give us life as we face the loss of so many innocent children? We can't. It's impossible. The only way to endure and ultimately overcome this unbelieveably sad event is to have faith that God's word is true. Joy will come some morning. Beauty will rise from the ashes. Life will be good and full again even as it remains different than what it was or would have been had this tragic event not been visited upon us.
The innocent children still live but in a different place - the place we call heaven. They are no longer here, and it is the sudden and brutal way in which they were taken from our midst that crushes our senses and hearts. As human beings, we know only this world and don't fathom heaven, which is God's home and is promised to us who believe on, adhere to, rely on, and cling to Him while we live on this earth. Heaven is real; it's forever. The slain children are there, enjoying the presence of their Creator. All of their questions have been answered, but many of ours will not ever be answered because we live on this side of eternity. Families will be reunited with these lost loved ones some day, and only then will all questions be answered, only then will things be revealed.
As everyone who has been affected, from parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, best friends, casual friends, acquaintances, the survivors, the first responders, police officers -- the list goes on and on --and even those who live in the Newtown/Sandy Hook areas or have in the past and feel rooted to that special place -- as all work through the grieving process, let us find hope in Jesus, who is acquainted wtih our sorrows and who offers peace, healing, and hope for eternal life.
In time, life will move on, only differently than what had been expected.
God is good, never evil. Read the end of The Book - He wins.
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