Living in a now world, I'm amazed at the immediacy that we constantly overreact to certain situations, and almost as immediately dismiss them...(wait for the next impending doom/tragedy that catches the media's fancy) Now before you decide to run me out of town/string me up/flog me, please understand, I DO see the need to show empathy for the community of Newtown, and the families who have been forever changed by the happenings of the past week. However, I do not see the need to over examine/over expose the events surrounding this tragedy to myself, or my family. Let me explain why: Our horror, shock, disdain for what has happened will be short lived. We will be distracted by the immediate needs of our own life, and community at some point in the near future, and naturally those immediate needs that affect us will supercede the long term needs that this community is facing.
Let me share with you from personal experience how this will go down: Most of you reading this know my story, but a few may not so let me share. When I was 11 years old my mother passed away suddenly, from complications of numerous health issues. I lived in a small town called Nowata, the entire community rallied around myself and my father. My dad was very involved in the community, as one of the only attorney's in town. The teachers at the school made dinner for us for MONTHS, there was a group of kids who took my bike (which had been stolen and stripped and did not work well) and got it fixed...For weeks everyone I saw told me how sorry they were for me, and how they were praying for me. It was awful...I had to relive the horror of the reality of facing the rest of my life without the love of my life as an 11 year old 6th grader with every conversation I had. Now these folks were all well meaning, and please don't think I'm not grateful, I appreciated the sentiment of their well wishes...but I was broken. What's worse, about a month after, everyone went back to their regular lives. The teachers went back to giving me detention, that group of guys that fixed my bike went back to bullying me and calling me names, and those well wishers went back to their own lives. There was one BIG problem: I still didn't have a mom, and I was still broken.
There was a family however that recognized this fact. It was the family of my best friend at the time Kurtis Sears. Now, our families were total opposites. I'm a city boy, my dad and I would go hunt quail every now and then, but the Sears' well...I had fresh (and I mean scrape the film of the top fresh) milk with my cereal when I would stay the night. We would have pig rodeos at their house...at my house we played basketball on my half court in my back yard (which took up almost the ENTIRE back yard. The Sears' had acres to go run around on. Yet when I was there the pain seemed diminished. The fact that I still didn't have a mom didn't change, but they made the necessary investments in my life to help me move through it! (because you never get over it) I am still very grateful to Dwight and especially Susan Sears. She became my first surrogate mom. I had an entire row at my wedding right next my family reserved for my Surrogate moms, like Pam Landrum, Barbara Billingsley, Rhonda Cox...all ladies who took the time to invest their love and support into me, in a way that was meaningful, and at times costly (both in time and money!).
I say all that to say this: If you're not going to be willing to make the long term investments in the lives of the families of Newtown CT. to help them move through this tragedy, don't waste your time with ancillary shows of support such as vague fb posts, or I even saw a t-shirt company I used to buy from for my youth groups is doing a fund raiser selling Newtown CT. shirts....All of these superficial shows of support WILL make YOU feel better, but will do very little to help the ACTUAL victims who have been marred by this tragedy.
I do have a proposition. there are hundreds, and thousands of people, who need support, who need love, who need discipleship. How about instead of focusing our attention on a community that is so far away that we can't do any REAL good for, how about we focus on the hurting, the mourning, the troubled here in our own communities. Take this tragedy and turn it into motivation to invest in the lives of kids here where God has planted you. 26 families have been forever changed, and that is tragic, but what is more tragic is that so many of us ignore the millions of families elsewhere who are in need of some surrogate moms, and surrogate dads, and brothers, and sisters. Let us not work in vain, but let us advance the Kingdom of Heaven for His names sake!
1 Corinthians 15:54b-58
New International Version (NIV)
55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
Where, O death, is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
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