Many of you have heard the terrible story that took place in Arizona. Are the details important? Yes and here is why. We have a young man who is the age of 22. This is someone’s son. He is around the age of someone who would be finishing up a Bachelor’s program. This young man is the shooter. There were 20 victims that were shot by this young man. Out of the 20 victims that were shot, 6 of them did not make it. They died. One of the 6, was a 9 year old girl. A terrible and horrific crime committed by a citizen of mankind to other citizens of mankind. At this time we fully do not know what led this young man to do such a thing. We may never know the thoughts of the five who died, but we can imagine what may have been on that little girl’s mind. You see, she was born on 9/11/01, and according to her family and school, she showed interests in politics. In fact, her interest in government was the reason why she attended the event on Saturday where the shooting took place. Can you imagine how happy she was? She was possibly living her dream. How many times do you believe she pretended to be a politician? She was an innocent little girl who just wanted a chance to be amongst adults in an adult setting, discussing adult matters. Why are these details important? The shooter’s intended target was one person. One!!!! His sole purpose was to assassinate one person, and yet 20 people were shot, 6 died, and one of them was a 9 year old girl.
This is just one event out of many that happened to make the front page because of the political nature. I’ve heard of stories where a child was in his room playing video games and a stray bullet came through his bedroom window hitting him in the neck, killing him. Another story is of an older woman waiting for a bus to head to work on her last day before she retires, only for a car to spin out of control and crash into her and pinning her against the wall, nearly severing her upper body from her lower body. Or a young baseball league player, where a ball was hit straight toward him, and he missed the catch and the ball hit him in the chest, killing him. Stories like these and the Arizona one is a clear sign that our lives are not in our control. At any time our lives can cease to exist. It points to our dependency on a force that can see the unforeseeable and possibly protect us from the unpredictable elements like above. The force I am referring to is God.
People pray to God before they lay their head down to sleep. People pray when they wake up. People pray before they leave their home. When traveling, people pray for traveling mercy, and arriving grace. People pray before an operation. People pray for healing. People pray for their spouses, their children, their friends, their fellow parishioners. If someone was walking down the street and see a bunch of men coming toward them, they pray to God that they will pass without incident. People pray for protection. People pray for covering. People pray. People pray. People pray!!!!!!!!! The reason why people pray is because they realize the need of God to come between them and danger. They pray because they recognize the power of petitioning God to move on their behalf. They pray because they heard about others who prayed and received their desired results. These examples point to a need. The bible states “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Php 4:6-7) We pray because we want the assurance that our worries will subside, and that our minds will be at ease, knowing that God got us covered. Remember it is not about God knowing we need Him, but about us removing the distractions and realize that we need God. Amen!
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