My heart broke as I saw the news of the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Such evil in this broken world. Precious children. Elementary. They are harmless, so full of life, hope, and a future. All cut short in this senseless tragedy. I thought about their parents. They dropped them off for school that morning never thinking they would never see their child alive again. The shattered dreams and lives. I literally cried.
I grew up in San Antonio, Texas, so this is close to home. Uvalde is only 85 miles away. Somehow I felt closer to this tragedy. We have been inundated with senseless murders. With the Buffalo shooting just a few weeks ago, the Chinese church in California, and now this. All these people simply going about their day, living their lives, only to have it taken by evil. Good children and people who have families, friends, and communities. Why?
Why is all this happening? And, how do we make it stop?
1. Pray – Seriously, this is a spiritual battle. This is pure evil. To walk into an elementary school and shoot innocent children, there is nothing worse. Pray for God to change hearts. Pray for God to bring His power and His Spirit. Pray for God’s Presence with these families and healing in our land. Pray for salvation to come and for lives to be changed. Ultimately, God wins. It is in the meantime, this waiting for Christ’s return, that we must be diligent and pray. Pray for our own kids, schools, and for our nation. Come, Lord Jesus.
2. Act – We can’t just sit around and not do anything when innocent people, especially children are being gunned down. Write to your congressman and ask them to take stricter measures. Better background checks on guns, raise the age limit, metal detectors at all schools and public places, police officers constantly on school property, volunteer at your kid’s school to provide more physical and spiritual covering and more. There are things we can do. Something needs to change. We can’t do what we have been doing and expect different results. Sandy Hook and this senseless tragedy must push us to pray and to act.
3. Ask – We need wise leaders right now. Ask God to raise up wise leaders in our nation, our states, cities, churches, and homes. Pray for wisdom for our leaders. We need godly men and women who will step into this and make wise decisions. Principals at schools, fathers and mothers in homes, pastors and lay leaders in churches, and elected officials in government. This is the time we all need to come together to work for what is right and decent. These are children! And, they need godly, wise leaders who will stand up and fight to protect them.
4. Invest – Invest in what matters. We can’t just become a culture of comfort when tragedies are happening all around us. I truly believe Jesus and the local church are the hope of the world. We need to invest in sharing the Gospel and seeing God change hearts. We need revival in our nation. We need churches investing in our communities and in our world. I was a youth pastor in San Antonio, Texas. What if we could have had a campus in Uvalde and somehow, by the grace of God, reached this shooter with the Gospel? Think about how many lives would have been saved – along with his? What if a local church there, or a parent or a friend had shared Christ with him? It is the Gospel that will change hearts and lives. We must pray, act, ask and invest together. This is our time!
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think about William Wilberforce. For years he tried to abolish slavery in Britain. It seemed like such an impossible task. But, he knew God can do miracles, and he had to help restore order and manners in people’s lives before they would act. After 20+ years, Parliament finally voted in Britain to abolish slavery. William saw God do a miracle, and so many lives were saved.
This is our time. It may seem impossible for these horrific tragedies to stop, but our God is greater. I contend that God has been changing hearts and already protecting so many in so many communities in our nation. Yet, we must do more. This is our time to pray, act, ask and invest. There are precious children at risk. Children in our nation. Children in our communities. Our own children. Share Jesus and let’s make a difference together. This is our time.
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