I am a Las Vegas local, and as of today it has been one month since the horrific mass shooting during the Route 91 Harvest festival that killed 59 people and injured more than 500 hundred others. In our current informational age, it is so easy to become numb to tragedy because these events appear to be so far away. This time it happened in my own city. This happened to people I know.
And yesterday, there was yet another senseless act of violence in New York that killed 8 people and 11 others injured.
My mind and heart just cannot comprehend why. I don’t know want to know why. I want violence to end. I search for answers but my human mind is confronted with it’s own limitations. Emotions rage violently within me. They crash and hurl feelings of uselessness. I am drowning in my own thoughts. What can I do?
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)
“In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37-39)
We have become desensitized to the world around us. This must stop. Any violent act anywhere in the world is too many. Bring down the walls that divide cities and countries. We are all citizens of the world. What stops us from uniting in peace? What prevents us from doing something for those who are in need?
Yes, we must let go of things we cannot change but we should not let go of things that we can change. We don’t have to be numb. We don’t have to be unkind. We don’t have to be distant. We don’t have to be our differences. We can be kind. We can be the support that others need. We can listen and we can hear each other because we are united in the simple fact that we share the same humanity.
I don’t have the answers but I can see a potential first step of being the church. We can be the living embodiment of what is good and what is kind here on this earth. It starts with you and it starts with me. We choose. No one else chooses this for us. It’s time. #Bethechurch #VegasStrong #NewYorkStrong #HumanityStrong
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