I am on the safety committee at my school.  We are the ones that decide how our school handles crisis situations.  We develop the protocols and steps to keep our children safe.  Each time there is a school crisis in our nation, it forces us to re-think and re-design our procedures.  It could be a tornado, like the one in Alabama , that killed children who followed their school’s safety plan.  It could be a school shooting, like the one in Virgina, where students were killed senselessly.  We try to plan for it all.  The problem is that we cannot allow for every scenario.  And even if we did find a way to calculate every detail of every possibility we could not guarantee, that in those emergency situations, people would not panic.  This fact brings me to the truth…we cannot always be safe.  There are no guarantees.  However, if we are ruled by the fear of the possibilities, our lives become a prison.  The bars, our fearful thoughts, slam closed holding us captive. 

Freedom is a matter of trusting God.  I know that sounds overly simple in the face of such a horrific crime.  But isn’t that what faith is?  Trusting God when we cannot grasp reality?  We have to trust that he is just, and that he will execute his justice.  We have to trust that his grace is sufficient to handle the grief and pain that comes with monumental loss.  We trust him with the souls of our children, friends and family members.  It is not an easy thing to walk in faith.  In fact, it is just plain hard.  When tears are burning our eyes and we think our hearts will break…he holds us.  When our minds cry out to understand…he calms us.  He is our source of hope in the midst of our crumbling world.  He calls us to our knees when the images of the shootings in Virginia refuse to leave our minds.  He is bigger than bullets, but he cries tears over human choices just the same as we do. 

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is “He is close to the brokenhearted.”  I love it because it tells us that God’s presence is near in the midst of a traumatic event brought on by unthinkable human choices.  I often wonder, usually after horrific events like the shootings in Virginia , if God ever wishes he hadn’t given us the freedom of choice.  When we choose poorly, or even dangerously, and he watches his creation destroy itself, what does it do to him?  I think it breaks his heart, similar to when a child we love chooses poorly and has to live with the consequences.

The great thing about my God is that he feels what I feel.  He knows me better than I know myself…including my fears…and he loves me anyway.  Looking at the images of violence, sorrow, and grief, reminds us that he is whispering…Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.