WAKE UP, IT CAN HAPPEN HERE

by Eric

Image Credit: USA Today

 

First and foremost, here at Town Talk Radio, our thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by this horrible and senseless tragedy that took place in Sutherland Springs Texas.

About a month ago, we tuned in to the massacre that happened in Las Vegas. Now here we are a month later and we are reeling from another shooting that killed more than two dozen people in a church in a small rural community where things like this aren’t supposed to happen. Well, it did and it’s the unthinkable that has finally planted its ugly face in our culture of small town America.

I am sure you are as conflicted as I am about all this. I go from sadness to anger in minutes of each other when thinking about this tragedy. I’m grieved to the point that I even cried yesterday afternoon and bit this morning from all this. This seems to hit at home for me, because I pastor a small church. As a pastor we are supposed to shepherd the flock and protect them as well. The pastor of this church had his fourteen year old daughter murdered and I share the same, because I have a fourteen year old daughter. Also hits close to home for many others because many of you attend church, and you have probably thought to yourself that this can happen to me.

None of this make sense, and I’m not going to tell that it does makes sense. Frankly, because it doesn’t. Just like the shooting in Las Vegas, we may never know why this person even pin pointed this church, what was really going through his mind and simply, “why?”

I do know this. This type of tragedy goes way beyond politics, religion and culture. This is a heart and soul issue. We face every day the possibility that someone else is going to copycat or try something similar to wreck our lives, to weaken us, to even question God about what we are living through. Yes, this is a heart and soul issue and nothing else.

When will we stop and look at what the true issue is at hand. Yesterday in Sunday School with the teens there was a scripture that was mentioned. Romans 13:11 tells us this, “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.”. Folks, we must wake up out of this slumber and realize that our hope is not in government, it’s not in the famous, and it’s not in money or prosperity and anything else! Our hope is in The One Who died on the cross for us. That is Jesus Christ.

Like I said a month ago, we handle things like this through prayer, letting God be God and be a community for one another. We are living in times that this might be the “new norm”, although I hope not, and because of this we must be more in tune to God. Look at your surroundings and notice those who are lost. Back at the end of September, Fox News did a poll about the direction of our nation, and 56% of those polled believed that America is “Going to hell in a handbasket”. I think we can see why!

Let’s rise up and take heed of what God is telling us. Be the men and women God has called you to be, especially during dark and grave times like this. I want to share some advice similar to Governor Abbot. When we see our loved ones, hug them, hold them. Tell them how much you love them. We never know when and where a tragedy like this could happen, so make yourself available to those you love. Continue to pray for this grief stricken community.

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