Tragedy in Texas

Yesterday morning, while my family was at church, learning God's word, singing praises to His Holy name, a few hours away, another church, was devastated. As that church congregation gathered to do what I was doing with several hundred others, an evil man came in with a gun, and fired on that congregation.

Yesterday, 26 saints of God went to heaven. The youngest an 18 month old; 12 to 14 of the victims were children; and the pastor's own 14 year old daughter in that number. Roughly 20 others were injured, at least half of those are still in critical condition.

Friends, nothing is sacred, nothing is holy anymore. When I go to church, to worship, praise, and study the word of God, I leave the world behind. I do all I can to leave my worries at the door, at the cross, so I can focus on God. But last night, when I went to church, I was watchful, I was leery. The choir sang a phenomenal song, we have practiced it for weeks. But there was a weight on my heart, and I feel on the hearts of many because of the news we received after leaving church that morning.

I reference the Sandy Hook incident often in my writings, due to it happening right after the birth of my daughter Abigail. I was new to motherhood, and the flood of emotions of having a life to care for, to tend to, to protect...Sandy Hook stirred those even more. And I felt that the little bubble I had created at home with her was pricked when I finally turned on the news that December day. I was in a hormonal haze that had me thinking the world was perfect. I knew, and know, that the world is not perfect. But, there was an innocence to that chapter of my life, that abruptly ended with the devastation of that school shooting.

And yesterday...I feel we are in the last seconds of this current age, and I know things are ramping up as a woman in labor, but I was shocked by the events of yesterday. This isn't the first church shooting in recent years, and not the first shooting incident period. In the past few months there was Las Vegas, and even the terror in New York just a week or so ago. We barely have time to recover, reestablish a new sense of normal, and there is another incident, lives taken, communities shattered. Upon hearing about the death of the pastor's child, my heart just hurt. The entire event is a travesty, but lets think about that man and his life. He is a pastor, the shepherd to his flock. He needs to tend to them, the families that have lost loved ones. And he needs to do that all while he is in mourning, his baby was taken from him suddenly, and he wasn't there. It is almost too much to endure. I am praying for that poor man, that he will endure, he will have strength, and that he will live out a testimony for Christ, that even though he is dealing with a loss, he will still serve, be faithful, and help others.

I hugged my children a bit more yesterday, cuddled longer than normal, breathed them in. We are not promised tomorrow, and we do not know how our time will end. We need to do as much as we can each day we are blessed to have.  Let us remember this:

Psalm 34:18 (ESV)

 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted

and saves the crushed in spirit.

And this:

Right now we need to pray for those who lost loved ones, the pastor to have strength, the first responders to be brave and to recover, and that the light of Jesus will shine bright in this situation.