Good morning.
I just finished watching the moment of silence on television for the victims of the Tuscon shooting. The news shot through me just like one of the bullets that killed a 9 year old girl on Saturday. The tragedy is unthinkable. It makes you wonder what we're doing to ourselves.
Words have power. What you put out there can get into the hands of a crazy person who can purchase a gun with no problem. All of this hatred has got to stop. Feel free to disagree, feel free to debate...but violence and killing should never be a part of the conversation.
All of this is enough to have you afraid to leave the house or to stand in a crowd at a rally. This fear can keep us off-beat, paralyzed, wary of surrendering to the rhythm of life. Fear is the root of greed, aggression, racism, sexism, bigotry, and bad blood - between neighbors and nations, between Democrats and Republicans, our friends and family and the world. Fear can define a human being, enough to make him pick up a gun and shoot into crowd in an attempt to assassinate anyone who challenges those fears.
Fear can impede our forward progress and keep us out of the flow we call grace. I pray that God grants us grace and shows us when enough is enough. We haven't yet figured out how life works, why life is granted and why life is taken away, but I pray God can show us how to establish peace within and among ourselves. Where God is one, there is no other...there's a better way of living. I pray for the victims and I pray that He shows us the way.
-b
