It may be the fact that my son will be in an elementary school next year, but this one stings a lot. I cannot even look at the pictures of the families of the victims. I feel sorrow. I feel grief. But most of all, I feel angry.
I feel anger on behalf of the victims. I feel anger for their families. Yet, as I look for a place to direct my anger, I keep coming back to…me.
No, I am not blaming myself for this event. I am not saying that I have helped shift our culture to a place where these things happen. But what have I done to change it? What have I done to influence the culture in another direction?
I spend about 1/4 of my time at work. I spend about 1/3 on sleep. That’s about 7/12 of my week. That leaves almost half of my time that I should be using to change the world by introducing people to my God. It is my job to show people who Jesus is.
But if I really spent half of my time doing that, don’t you think I might even make a small impact on the world? Perhaps I could love somebody enough to influence them to raise their children in church, and twenty years down the road a situation like this may be adverted. That 30 hours of adoption training standing between me and taking in an orphan may not look so bad when I think about how it may impact his/her future actions.
Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. (James 1:27 NLT)
Maybe I am just rambling or maybe there is a point here, I honestly don’t know. I do know that I should be doing more. More to love strangers. More to take care of God’s people. More to spread the gospel. More to be like Christ.
In the meantime, though, I am going to go and hug my children. I am going to pray for everyone involved and affected by the situation in Connecticut. And I am going to invite God to yell at me for not doing more. Feel free to join me in all of these efforts.
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV)