Tragedy Strikes

This week and last week have been especially tough for me. I'm not sure why, but I am thankful to God that he is my stronghold in times of weakness. Over the weekend a very special work friend's daughter and granddaughter were brutally murdered (2 miles from my house, I might add). I have gone through a string of emotions and questions, and I wanted to jot down just some things I was thinking about.

I'm continuing my reading through the New Testament and I am now on Romans- one of my all time favorite books of the Bible. As I read there were some scripture verses that really stuck out to me, as if God is answering all of my questions about this tragedy. Chapter 1 verses 21-25 says,

"For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the trust of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator- who is forever praised. Amen."

There was a time in my life where I remember thinking that God never spoke to me through scripture;but, I think during that time I wasn't looking for his guidance. I'm not at all saying that's the reason other people don't hear from God, please don't get me wrong. I am simply saying that's why I never did. We have this tendency to call on Christ when we need him and when tragedy strikes. I want to call on God every day because he is my father, my best friend, my provider and comforter. Why do we continually take our troubles to other people or things, when God is always waiting for us to stop and talk to him, the creator of the universe?

I can't imagine how sad he gets when he watches what is going on in this world. It just doesn't make sense to me how a nation can have so much, be so privileged, and still be as selfish as we are. When I think about the hope of catching this criminal, who committed such a terrible offense to my friends family, is makes me think how fortunate he/she will continue to be...even in jail. It makes me think about the blessings even the poorest of people in the United States have compared to the rest of the world. But because we've been taken over with selfish desires, the keeping up with the Joneses mindset, the we have to make more and more money mindset, we get so distracted from the overall picture and begin to see no farther than the end of our own noses.

On top of this horrible tragedy I've been experiencing a lot of the worlds selfishness, even my own. I am constantly having to examine myself and my own heart to make sure I am able to hear God. Some days it really takes a toll on me, but I am thankful to God that he is always there. I hope that through this post today you will be motivated to listen to God speaking to you, to let go of these selfish desires and thoughts and seek his will. There's so much going on in the world, in the United States, in our very own families and friends' lives that God has His hands on it would be a terrible shame to miss out on it because we refuse to listen and look.

Those are my thoughts for today.

Please pray for my friend Ray and his family as they heal

for my work and co-workers at Columbia College, for my family, and for my preparations to return to Uganda this summer. I love you all!