Thoughts on a Tragedy

Something very bad happened today.  Over the course of the coming days, we're going to hear all of the awful details as they emerge and are released to the general public.  We are going to learn the identities of those 28 people.  We are going to see the faces of 20 dead school children, images that will be imprinted on our national memory.  We are going to hear psychologists and assorted other experts trying to explain the inexplicable behavior of a troubled young man, and then they will attempt to tell us why this all happened.

Sadly, there will never be a satisfactory explanation.

Already, the cries of a nation are being heard.  Voices are being lifted in anger, in grief, in protest, in shock, all expressing varying sentiments.

How could someone do something like this?

This is why the government should take away everybody's guns.

He was on medications that warn of serious side effects.

Heaven has 20 new angels tonight (why that number is not 28 I cannot explain).

Where was God when this was happening?

And personally, I'd just like to say I wish the gunman had started with himself.  Or that he had tried to face off against multiple armed law enforcement officers and gotten a taste of what he had just inflicted on others.  Or that he had been taken alive and disabled, and then given over into the hands of the parents of those 20 kindergartners.  Or that God would have given me just a moment with this monster...and the power to make him suffer beyond measure before I conducted his passage into hell.

There is no earthly consolation that can be offered to comfort those who have suffered loss this day.  There will be no earthly justice, no closure, no comeuppance.  The souls of that lunatic and his 28 victims are now in the hands of God, who is a far better Judge than any man could ever be.  He will do what is right and just and fair.  And to tell you the truth, I'm glad it's Him and not me who has the responsibility, because He also has the power and authority to do all things well and good.

Honestly, I am somewhat at a loss for words on this subject.  Politics and personal feelings aside, there is really only one thing on my mind to say.

Parents, love your children.  Raise them in the training and the admonition of the Lord.  Teach them right from wrong, to do what is good and to shun what is evil.  Pray for them.  Bless them.  Be a good a example for them.  Discipline them early and often, but do it in love.  Teach them obedience, and show them the best way is God's way.  Do not provoke them to wrath.  Hug them, kiss them, tell them you love them.  Teach them to love God, and to love each other.  And when the day is over, and they are tucked safely in their beds, thank God every day that they came home to you.