Questions And Comfort

There will be plenty of people with answers.....

I'll be sorting through their theories tomorrow...well before dawn.

There will be pundits who will blame guns, psychiatrists who will blame childhood traumas, groups that will cast blame on video games, religious groups who will cast indictments toward pharmaceutical companies, novices and know-it-alls who will say it was the fault of inattentive parents, school policies, military mentalities, peer pressure... you name it, the list will go on and on.

We are a society that demands answers, that needs answers. We can't function without finality.

Of course even if we had real answers they wouldn't help the parents and friends of the dozens of people killed today at Virginia Tech.

News writers like me will try to avoid answers, we'll focus on asking questions and I will concentrate on composing stories by stating sadistic facts - someone with guns, ammunition and internal outrage of some form exploded...the result: horror and heartbreak.

Eventually, there will also be the inevitable questions, " Where was God? How could God allow this nightmare to unfold?"

I can not fathom the gaping spiritual wounds the numerous victims of this senseless rampage must be enduring and will continue to bear. I can not envision the scars to their sanity that will savage their souls for days and years and lifetimes.

The sadness, the anger, and the pain will be pronounced and prolonged...and it will only be made worse because there will never be an answer deemed adequate.

These events are beyond our explanation and I believe beyond our comprehension...at least for me. I am certainly incapable of finding words of comfort, much less answers.

I will pray though. I will pray because I believe God is wading within the core of those in crisis. I believe He is trying to console the Virginia Tech victims, their families, the students and friends whose groans of grief echo so loudly around the earth this evening. I will pray that somehow they find a way to go on...to recognize that God is among them and that His purpose will steady them...and all of us.

The last thing I will do tonight will be to read the words I spent this afternoon tracking down, knowing they might bring me some peace by reminding me of He who sustains me.

Here dies another day
During which I have had eyes, ears, hands
And the great world round me;
And with tomorrow begins another.
Why am I allowed two?"

-C.K. Chesterton