The Virginia Tech Shootings

There are several issues at the center of this. Of course, the call for 'more gun control'. Which can be summed up, the bad guys who want guns will have them and the responsible people who should have weapons but are law-abiding won't have them (or permission to use and/or carry them). People who want to harm others will find a way. There were mass murders long before there were guns.

But a deeper question is why did this man feel so desperate that he felt he had to express his anger in such a way? What could have been done, not to stop him, but to reach him? Sure, we can lock up people in mental hospitals who aren't normal or balanced or are a threat to themselves. But does that really help them? NO! They need far more than therapy and medication, which do help, but don't answer the real question.

They need Jesus. I need Jesus. Without Him, I'm just a selfish woman who would rather live in my own happy world with my husband and child and not do things that are hard, not get involved with a messy, hurting world, not become involved with people. But God hasn't called me just to be a wife and a mother, and to serve those I love, but those He loves.

So my answer to that is not to just be on the defensive and carry a weapon for my own protection(though I do believe in that, but that's for another day), but to be a part of a community that pro-actively reaches out and helps others. To see when people are in need and are seeking for help--even if they don't ask for it. That is what being the Church, Jesus' body really means.

How many of us have known people who were bullied and picked on and just turned away? Or saw someone who was different, didn't act the way we did socially, wasn't someone we would choose to be friends with and we just kinda avoided them? Or someone who didn't know how to interact in normal relationships and were 'clingy' and it was too difficult to get involved?

I'm guilty. I have known people like that. So what will I do differently? I'm not sure. I live close to a high school, and I know God has put a burden to pray for the school, which I do occasionally, but just maybe He's asking me to be more disciplined about praying for the students and teachers. Since I've been pregnant, I've thought a lot more about the places that provide counseling for pregnant women who are facing scary choices. Part of me says, "You can't get involved; you're going to have a baby." But if I listen to that voice of doubt, I'll never find out what I could possibly do.

Our pastor talks about asking the people that he sees every Sunday at the McDonald's drive-through how they are. He cares for them. I had a friend who cashiers at Walmart, and she talked about being Christlike to people who weren't happy with the service and treated the cashiers badly. How often do we know see cashiers as people? They're just there. And hearing her changed how I realized I saw them. It's easy for me to talk to people, so I talk to the cashiers at the grocery store. Heaven knows I see them regularly!

Sometimes, I think we get to scared thinking about 'witnessing' and 'telling people about Jesus' and we forget we are supposed to be Jesus to those around us.

What does that mean for me on a daily basis?