One Day In April

Let’s start out with the obvious that my prayers go out to the families of the students at Virginia Tech. As most of you know I grew up very close to VT and have been on that campus many times so I can mentally picture the scenes that are happening there. I have been praying for them since the news broke and I urge you to do the same.
We don’t know the hearts of the students killed but undoubtedly not all of them were born again Christians thus are now dealing with issues much greater than not being able to finish college. My hope and prayer is that in the wake of this horrendous act that people will come to the realization that life is short. Most of those kids woke up yesterday morning thinking that Monday was going to be just like any other day. Little did they know that in a matter of a few hours 33 of their classmates and professors would be stepping in eternity. As James the half brother of Jesus wrote in James 4:14 “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” Some of you might not know that James did not believe that Jesus was the Christ until AFTER Jesus had died and rose from the dead. Undoubtedly this shook James and he ultimately realized he was a sinner and the only way to eternal life was through Jesus Christ. Sometimes it takes a traumatic event such as the shootings for our minds to begin to rethink what we know and to process the reason we were put here.
This brings us to an ever popular question “Why would God allow this to happen?” In reality we can never comprehend what God’s reasoning is behind His actions; all we know is that they are never wrong. "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5b). However, it is my opinion that God allows these kinds of acts to happen to bring people closer to Him. "... we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). Remember Sept 11th? There were a large number of people in the days following that began to examine their lives and began to understand the need for redemption from their sin. My old Sunday school (sorry “small group” for you Bayside people) and his wife were two of them. I pray that in the wake of the shootings at Virginia Tech we will see a large number of people stop and think about their lives and give their hearts and life to Jesus Christ. Though I am saddened by the loss of friends and family, I praise God for what He’s GOING to do.