Virginia Tech

Sometimes I just don't know what to think.

I often feel like I'm safe, but then something like this happens. How safe are we really? There are people out in the world who do stuff like this. But they are all around us. It just happened two weeks ago here on the University of Washington campus. A professor was a victim of a murder-suicide, likely because of a relationship problem or something. This kind of thing happens all of the time.

What does God think about it? I'm sure He is both angry and sad at the same time. Angry that we humans are so self-centered. Sad that His children are killing their brothers and sisters.

The interesting thing is that this happens all the time. Murder, suicide, hatred, selfishness... it's all sin.

How can we live comfortably in a world full of sin?

Schools are supposed to be safe places for learning and developing as an individual, but then we realize that we aren't safe at all. People all around us have the choice, the ability to destroy that which we hold so dear to us in our lives. Even complete strangers.

So again, I wonder...
How can we live comfortably in a world full of sin?

I have to admit that I can't live comfortably in it. I can't be comfortable with the fact that wherever I go... to the store, to a university, to a sports game, to work ...I am never completely safe. How can anyone be comfortable with that?

I can try my best to make the world a better place, I can work at improving kids' lives and families to love each other more, especially since this guy who murdered everybody at Virgina Tech was called a "loner." Sometimes I think, what if I grew up with that guy, what if I was able to befriend him and hang out with him and give him the community and friendship that he needed in order to feel loved?

How can anyone be comfortable with knowing that all around the world every day there are people being murdered, people murdering, people dying, people being killed, all for no reason at all. I am not comfortable with that.

But what does comfort me is my identity in Christ. It comforts me to know that I have a hope for a life after this one, which is void of sin.

But what do I do until I die and start my life with Christ? What am I supposed to do here on Earth? Again, the answer is in my identity in Christ. I am supposed to be joined in community with other believers and transform peoples' lives, one person at a time. In any type of community, people feel comforted. And in a quality, Christ-centered community, people feel eternally comforted.

I don't know anything about that guy who murdered all those people, so I can't really say anything about him. My heart just goes out to him. The loner.

How many loners do we know in our own life? People who are starved for community, starved for wanting to be loved, and starved to feel a part of something bigger than themselves? I know plenty of them. And I want to help. Because a quality, Christ-centered community is what we were designed for.

Photo taken from CNN.com