My heart is heavy tonight for the families who lost loved ones at the school shooting today in Connecticut, especially for the families of those children. I have experienced prolonged grief and heartache, but I have never experienced what these families are enduring tonight.
As I watch and listen to the reports of the horrors of the day the typical templates are already being followed. The lines for the gun control / civil liberty / second amendment argument will be renewed in a few hours, at most. On this topic I too have a very definite opinion, but for tonight I know all I need to know. Twenty kids and several adults are dead. Lives have been cut short, and the shooter is dead. We can exact neither revenge or justice on the killer, and we can do nothing for the innocent ones gunned down.
The only thing that we can do tonight is grieve for the dead and pray for the living.
And so my prayer is this:
"O my God, please wrap your arms around those grieving families in Connecticut. Their hearts are broken, and our grief is great.
"Dear Lord, wrap your arms around those children tonight. Please pull them close to you.
"Help the parents of those killed today. Help them breathe just one breath at a time, over and over again until a new day dawns.
"Help us to say with the Psalmist,
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."O my God, be with us all, give us courage, and may righteousness triumph over evil in all its forms. Your kingdom come, your will be done. In Jesus name I pray. Amen."
