My phone buzzed Saturday night, as did many of yours. I picked it up
and read the news. My heart sank and that all too familiar sick feeling started
in my stomach like seasickness as waves crash hard. I hated to tell Jerry, but
I did.
“Another shooting,” I said. “In El Paso. Looks like many casualties.”
Of course, in only hours the tragedy in Dayton unfolded. For a
flickering moment, the fight or flight kicks in. What to do, where to go in the wake of these
events?
Beth Moore, a Bible teacher I respect so much, has been taking a bit of
a Twitter break. Sometimes our souls need a rest from the fray. But I knew she
would weigh in on this. I was right.
She tweeted yesterday morning, “It is in this evil world we must stand
strong. It is in this madness we must think soundly. It’s amid these dangers
our hearts must neither melt nor harden. It’s here and now we who follow Jesus
must be brave and bold in love and truth, defending the defenseless and not the
indefensible.”
Her words “neither melt nor harden” bore into me. That’s it, isn’t it?
The horror of it all threatens to either melt us or harden us, but neither of
those is an option. Somehow, we must find a way to live in these times without
growing callous to atrocities or be destroyed by them. The only way to do that
is by clinging to Jesus and His word.
The Psalmist realized it when he wrote, “God is our refuge and
strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though
the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its
waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging “( Psalm 46:1
-3).
He is our refuge. He is our strength. In the wake of any tragedy.
This week Christianity Today published a piece by Taylor Schumann, a
shooting survivor. She offers powerful advice on how to pray for those affected
by these tragedies HERE.
Not melting.
Not becoming hard.
Joining with you in prayer, friends.