Last night a writer sent an email with a youtube link and some information about the horrible events that unfolded near Denver, CO early, early Sunday morning. Some guy came to the dormitory at Denver's YWAM base and asked for a place to stay (according to today's news reports). He opened fire and shot 4 to 5 people. Two of those later died in the hospital.
As I ground up coffee beans this morning and added water to start a pot of coffee, I thought about those at YWAM in Denver. Here I was, able to have a "normal" morning, but for four people there (not to mention their friends, co-workers and family), today is anything but normal.
I pray, not knowing all that needs to be prayed for, asking God to bring His peace to those grapling with the shock and grief of what happened. I think God created in us the ability and need to grieve when loved ones are taken away from us. Grief is kind of like a reminder of how much people matter and mean to us. The loss we feel reminds us of the value of love.
McManus said in an early entry:
"Grief is proof that love prevails over death."
A gunman opened fire in a church parking lot about 70 miles South of Arvada, CO yesterday morning. Investigators are, no doubt, looking at shell casings and evidence to determine if this was the same gunman that shot people over at YWAM's headquarters earlier in the morning. This guy was shot by a church security guard. I wondered about a church having a security guard, but was pretty happy to find out that they did -- otherwise a lot more people would have been shot. I watched some of The Today Show this morning, where Merideth interviewed a young couple that had seen the gunman. She asked them, "I heard you were praying while in your car and that you also prayed for the gunman." It wasn't absolutely apparent, but it almost seemed like the interviewer wasn't sure what to make of a person that would pray for his or her attacker.
The girl responded that she prayed for God's peace for this guy, because something must've been going on ... he must've been experiencing great pain to do something like this. When Christians share what they saw and experienced, etc, they are being witnesses. That's what a witness does in court and perhaps this is just one of many things that will happen in the wake of this horror that makes us wonder.
Four people have died thus far (two from YWAM and two from the church) and I can imagine that their entry into heaven is one that is mixed with honor and joy. Perhaps Stephen, the first martyr, greeted them yesterday. I'm sure it wasn't too long before the object of their affection and the Ultimate Martyr met them and embraced them as they entered a new phase of their eternal life. While these four died in a different manner than some of the apostles (who were arrested, jailed, tortured and killed for preaching about Jesus in Roman occupied territories), they were nonetheless killed because of their allegiance to Jesus the Christ. I think it's logical and correct to add them to the long list of martyrs. This just happened to be sudden.
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at December 10, 2007 08:29 AM