The Tragedy at Sandy Hook | “The Depth of Human Sin Has Reared Its Head… Again!”

This morning the town of Newtown, CT, was ravaged by the news that an elementary school was taken hostage and the lives of over 25 people were ended, some before they had even had a chance to really begin. When news like this hits it spreads quickly because that is what bad news does. So many thoughts comes to mind about how bad this event is. None of them are good and most of them remind me of what is wrong with the world. A world without love and hope will lead to death and chaos.

As a man of faith I am further convinced that the world does not have the answers to the brokenness of the human heart and soul. Life devoid of God and faith divorced from Jesus will never lead to the kind of peace people hope the government to provide. Followers of Jesus must refrain from placing any faith in the systems of this world. They are broken, tainted and governed by principles that are anathema to the Kingdom of God.

What I dread is the fact that some will being posturing and positioning this horrible tragedy to make a point that neither considers the victims or their families. Some politicians will use this (eventually) to mark some points with someone about needing more gun control. Second Amendment folks will argue that we can’t blame the guns. I have to be honest, I could care less. The only thing that hurts my heart is thinking of all those families (moms, dads, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents and others) who have had their lives, not just turned upside down, but destroyed. Life as we all know it has changed… again.

This is why I write. These kinds of tragedies just keep happening and they will continue to happen because we are not living in a utopia. That place does not exist! It never will because the people who would make it up are irreparably flawed. The only cure is the heart transplant the comes from a relationship with God in Christ. I am not trying to be trite or overly simplistic. I am trying to point to the only solution that I have found and is available to solve the human predicament.

There will never be an explanation satisfying enough to help the hurting hearts and souls of those who have lost today. No answers will make what has happened go away or feel better. The wound that was inflicted this morning may never truly heal. Time may dull the pain, but it will never remove the memory. The pain of loss, and that of a child, will linger in the dark corners of the heart for as long as blood courses through vein and artery.

Now is the time to invite God in and even to invite him to come. Only then will there be an end to senseless and unconscionable acts of violence. There was something more than innocence destroyed today. We are losing our ability to imagine a better world. The illusion of a good world is being chipped at by the evil that lays potential within the human heart. I am losing my faith in humanity. And maybe I should be. Humanity has never had to power to save itself. Something we seem to have forgotten.

People of God, pray. Pray for peace and comfort. Pray for the strength to love and continue to live. Pray that hope would come in the morning after the dark night of this day. Pray. Pray. Pray.