A Prayer for the Lost...

Another act of homegrown terrorism has once again left our nation in a state of disbelief. It wasn't that long ago, just this past fall, when we were asking ourselves many of the same questions we're faced with today. The questions we asked when the innocent blood of children was spilled at an Amish school. It would seem that Americans would still be reeling from that horrific tragedy.

But the world had moved on. There were clever advertisements on the television to watch, shopping at the mall, and soccer games and jobs to go to.

Of all the questions that we had asked then, did any of us come up with an answer? It doesn't appear that we have.

And while we debated, for a short while, about the affects of stricter gun laws did any of us reach out to those who touch our lives? Those who are hurting, silently, in solitude?

Today we can now discuss the ills of our immigration laws. Now that we can blame a "non-American" for the Virginia Tech tragedy.

A question that I find myself asking more than any other is where have we gone wrong in showing those who are suffering how to find their purpose?

For it seems that those who are in despair, to such a degree as to commit a mass murder and suicide, cannot find their purpose in life.

Did we remove mankind's purpose when we took prayer out of the schools?

Did we eliminate humanity's vision by removing the images that reflect God from our public spaces?

And since it may not seem right by many to pray in public, it makes me wonder if we have quit praying altogether.

Have we successfully crippled our society and placed ourselves in a wheelchair that carries the brand name of "Political Correctness"?

Those who are lost and can't seem to find their way appear to be disconnected from those who surround them.

Where have we gone wrong?

It seems that maybe we have allowed ourselves to become spiritually ill. We are unable to overcome our societal diseases due to the lack of inoculation; protection that comes with faith and prayer.

For if we do not take care of our souls, and are actively watchful for the souls of others, how will we ever stop this pandemic of death?

The young man, Seung-Hui Cho, seems to have been living a life of inner turmoil and seething self-hate. How could he have been so isolated and alone in a society that seeks to satisfy "me... myself... and I"?

Was he unable to assimilate while looking for a deeper meaning to life itself?


Perhaps his actions were a well-rehearsed video game.


Or was it the training that he received from our modern age and the agendas that are pushed by the media. The communications that pound us daily. Words that tell us that babies are worthless fetuses, Christianity is wrong, do what feels good, and that there is no such thing as right and wrong.


Many will speculate and try to understand the meanings of the written words, "Ismail Ax", on his arm and will probably fail to see the obvious. Are those words in reference to Abraham's sacrifice, or to a city without a country?

We could reach for lofty hypotheses, but more than likely the answer will lie in the English student's writings. Perhaps the words are a personification of himself in an assignment that he turned in. A private, yet at the same time, public cry for help.

How could he have remained friendless?


It is hard for a society filled with self-love to love the un-lovely.


And while the parents of those 32 students who were senselessly killed make burial plans, we as a nation continue to die a slow spiritual death.


Who will make our burial preparations?

A Godless government agency?


At times it seems that we reek of putrefaction.


Are we willing to cease all life support efforts?

Are we willing to sign a DNR order?

Or are we willing to believe in, and pray for, a resurrection?


Are we willing to give up our will for God's will in our lives?


Granted, tomorrow some one's father will die of a heart attack...

A mother will be killed by a drunk driver...

And a child will die of cancer...


Murderers have been with us since the beginning of time...


But before these precious lives leave our tactile world can we say that we touched them?

That we prayed for them?

Were we there for them when they needed us?


Are we assured that they will be in their rightful place in Heaven?


Can we say that they had a purpose and that they lived it fully during what precious time that they had?


Can I say that I have?


later...

7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve my life;
you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes,
with your right hand you save me.

8 The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
your love, O LORD, endures forever—
do not abandon the works of your hands. ~ Psalm 138:7-8 (NIV)