Mass Murder in Texas - the answer

When my children were little one of the summer VBS themes was:

Who's the answer?  Jesus is!

There was no theme song - - so I wrote one:

What's the question?  Who's the answer?
What's the answer?  Jesus is!
Jesus is, Jesus is, Jesus is, Jesus is!

When my life is dark and dreary
Who's the answer?  Jesus is!
When I'm feeling weak and weary
Who's the answer?  Jesus is!
Jesus is, Jesus is, Jesus is, Jesus is!

What's the question?  Who's the answer?
What's the answer?  Jesus is!


And He is!  Jesus is the answer to all of life's longings, all of life's needs.  He doesn't just hold the keys to our future - - He is the key!

He is the One I run to when I don't understand why the world has gone topsy-turvy.  This was one of those weeks.  Sunday morning while I was worshipping in my own church, the majority of the congregation in a little white Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas was gunned down by a madman, and people ask, "Where was God?"  The answer:  He was there!  He was with them as 25 people took their last breath.  He was with that little unborn baby boy who was the 26th life ended, and he is still with them in eternity where they have gone to their final home.  He is with those who are grieving, those who are recuperating in the nearby hospitals, and those who wonder how they can go on after such horrific loss.  

But go on they must.  If they don't the madman wins.  When we succumb to fear and insanity we lose.  

There is no rhyme or reason to this.  He had threatened his mother-in-law, but she wasn't even in the church on Sunday when he went with killing on his agenda.  

The tragedy touches all of us.  If it could happen there, it could happen anywhere....

However, in our shocked reactions the outcry against guns is the wrong response.  He would have found a way - - whether with a pressure kettle bomb or some other means.  People kill.  Guns are just one of the options as a tool for achieving their goal.  Having said that, I do believe magazines that hold more than 8 rounds of ammunition should be outlawed.  I believe in having guns for hunting and self-defense - - but being able to discharge interminable numbers of bullets from an automatic rifle is absolutely unnecessary in my opinion.  Still, if law-abiding citizens do not have that kind of guns, the criminals still will....  And that's the dilemma.  

We should enforce our already tight gun laws.  We should have a better system of reporting and flagging individuals who should not be able to purchase guns legally.  We, as citizens, should report people who seem "off" and who should be red-flagged as a concern.  

This is not just the Texans' problem, it is America's problem.   It is something that has to be addressed...but for now, we mourn.  In this and other killing incidents we have witnessed horrific carnage and  totally unnecessary loss of life.  

The only sliver of silver lining in the dark cloud that hangs over Sutherland Springs is that their loved ones are with Jesus....  And He is with those who loved them in their pain as they mourn.  Beauty will come from the ashes.  Right now that is hard to fathom, but the beginning of that was the heart-rending report of the young mother who shielded her children's bodies with hers, giving up her life to spare theirs.   That's what Jesus did.  He gave up his life to spare ours.  The promise of a perfect life is not for this world, but the next - - if we only let Him in.  

We must all forge ahead - - continuing to go to church, continuing to help others in need, continuing to be a community of believers who bear each other's burdens, continuing to place our faith in God.  

ROBIN WILLIAMS

"Carpe diem.  Seize the day.  Make your life extraordinary."

I know they were memorized words from a script - but they were words Robin Williams spoke in the film DEAD POETS SOCIETY.  

I went to bed feeling deep, deep sadness for the choice that Robin made to end his life.  He who brought so much joy to others through comedic relief didn't find joy in his own life, and ended it by his own hand.  A sad, tragic loss.  

I agonize for his family and others who loved him on a personal level.   I know what it feels like to be the child of suicide:  the if only's, the what if's, the maybe's...and when someone so dearly loved internationally chooses this way out of personal depression the model creates a risk for others to take the same self-absorbed way out.   (And suicide is self-absorbed.  None of us truly live just to ourselves.  We are interconnected.  Our lives matter to someone - - even perhaps to many someone's.)

I hate suicide!  Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.  Even long term depression is temporary in light of eternity.  

The only answer for life's deepest struggles is Jesus.  I know that a lot of people will be tempted to end their own pain with Robin's choice as their permission.  Don't do it.  Get help.  Eternity weighs in the balance.   

What happened is tragic.  My prayer is that God will redeem this horrible situation for good in others' lives - - that people who are in depression and in need of help will seek the only One who can meet life's deepest sorrows.  Truly, the Light of the World is Jesus.  

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.  John 3:16.  

God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.  He who has the Son has life, but he who does not have the Son does not have life.  I John 5:11-12

I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father but by me. John 14:6

Salvation is found in no one else.  For there is no other name...by whom we must be saved  Acts 4:12

Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you.  1 Peter 5:7

Find a Bible believing church.  Find a Christian counselor.  Get help.  God truly cares - and Jesus is the answer to all of life's dilemmas!  Seize the day.  Make your life extraordinary with God's help.  We can't do it alone!

(My mother committed suicide when I was 7 1/2 years old.  I speak from experience.  It is a horrible ending to grapple with for those left behind.  I am sharing this hoping someone who reads it will choose life - - not just living longer, but true life - - by asking Jesus into your life and circumstances; reading your Bible, praying, finding the fellowship of Christian believers in a Bible-believing church so you dan grow Spiritually.  I believe someone is meant to read this - - that God will use it for good in your life.)