Not to Be Misinterpreted....

     How do you put a price on life? I can't begin to imagine the pain and suffering the people in CT must be going through. Yet immediately people want to place blame it on things like guns and God. Everyone wants to start to ask "why would God allow this" and they think it gives them justification to lose hope and not believe. I completely understand how one would think that. Evil will always have a way of causing destruction to our society and terrible things will happen day in and day out which we have no control over. I think it's a terrible tragedy and there is no justification and  to say "everything happens for a reason" has no place in such a monstrous act. 

     But, I don't question "who, what, when or why God" when bad things happen. Instead I would rather ask where was I, and what I did (although sad, I have faith that the day anyone I know goes to be with Jesus will be far better than any day here on Earth)? Too many times we like to place the blame on others for the things in our life instead of asking what we did or did not do. An act like this puts me in prayer for the time I have been granted and hope to have with my wife, children and Family. At any moment it could be taken away from me and I don't want to look back and question my acts before that time comes. Granted I hardly ever get it right, but I would rather ask myself if I am doing everything I can to make this time count than assume that I was? Asking where God was, or why God allows these things to happen can be rooted back rather to asking what we did, as a society, to create such a monster? I think it is obvious this child was hurting inside and needed to lash out and was not thinking rationally when he finally did. 

     As a father I have to question my own actions and how well I express my faith with my children. Have I taught them enough about how much God loves them and how special they truly are? Have I expressed to them how much I love them and how I will always be there for them know what happens? Have I expressed to my wife how much she means to me and how important it is for me to love her the way Christ loved the church? I question all these things because I know the answer is NO and will probably always be NO because words can never express my love for them. This guy came from a broken home, which had to have something to do with his pain. He was probably not accepted by many kids in his school, I don't know, he might have been abused and picked on. We don’t know, it could have just been pure evil. But have I taught my children to value others, and to love not just thy neighbor but thy enemy as well? Have I instilled in them the fact that God loves all his children and we are all special? 

     What about video games and movies? What are my kids watching on a daily basis to make them think there is some kind of alternate reality? Was this guy taught that he was nothing more than some bacteria than evolved into an Ape then a human and that there are ultimately NO real consequences for our actions so just do what makes you happy? We as a society have pushed God and Heaven vs. Hell so far away that our kids have no concept of what it is like to fear God and his judgment. Can we truly blame this guy for his actions if we have modeled a society based off of selfish desires and the fact that killing others is not that big of a deal because it's all over the internet, TV, and Movies? Did his parents take any time away from their busy selfish life to tell him how much God loves him? How special he was? 

     I'm not making a case for this guy I'm merely trying to make a point and that point is this: This guy was a monster and did something that no one should ever do and ruined the lives of countless people and he will be judged for his actions and no doubt pay for them. I am more or less asking us to question the relationship with our children because it should not take a tragedy like this for us to go home and hug and kiss our kids. Every day we should focus on letting our families know just how important they are and how much we adore them and live for them and how Christ DIED for them. We are failing as a society to do this and it's making a major impact on the lives of our children. When something happens in life that you don't think is acceptable do not ask God where he was because he is always there, ask yourself where you were and if you were doing everything you could have done. 

James 4:13-16

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Our Will and His Will

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” 14 You don’t even know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes.

15 Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

     I pray for healing and strength for those families, and I pray for wisdom for myself and anyone else who needs it.

"so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:11