God is God...We're Not!

Wow, this past week has sure been a trying one.  We here in Central Florida have had our lives touched by several tragedies, two intentional and one accidental.  While I know that tragedies are happening all around the country and the world, when they hit close to home it really makes you step back and think.  God is giving us the opportunity to minister and I pray that I will not miss out on these opportunities.

Late Sunday evening, a former student of our was shot and killed by another young man.  While the details have not been fully released nor do they matter, a neighboring community has lost a human being.  While this young man was flawed and in need of a Savior, the events of that evening abruptly ended his life and therefore ended any possibility of him finding Christ (I don't know his spiritual condition).  We now have family members and friends in our school and in the community who are grieving the loss of this young man.  Please pray with me that God will give Tara and me a boldness to seize each opportunity that God brings our way.  We also have a group of strong Christian teens that will have opportunities to minister.  Pray that they will be able to be a strong godly witness during this time.

Another unrelated incident happened a couple days later when two Polk State College students were shot and killed by a co-worker and another was seriously injured.  Again, the details are unimportant, but the pain that the families and friends are going through  are very real and important to God.  We have students in our own church who knew and were friends with these young men as well as students in our school.  This is another opportunity for us to be a witness and a comfort.

In both of these cases, it becomes easy to judge and forget that there are people who need comfort, the comfort that only God can give.  May I remember that God is God and I am not (Thanks Pastor Wingate) and be a channel for God's love, grace and mercy.  May I have a compassion that is beyond me and may I be a light in our school and community.

The third and most recent tragedy was an accident that happened at a Girls Softball playoff game on Friday evening.  A 22 month old boy was hit and killed by an automobile.  Both families involved had players on the team and, as you can imagine, the grief, the anguish, the questioning and the pain are great.  While I can't even begin to imagine what either of these families must be going through, I know God does.  After all, he watched his Son die and he can relate to these families.  It was a beautiful scene in church today as the teammates and their families were all present in our church service to offer support to the families during this difficult time.  They were also present to hear and see God work.  It was amazing!  I could feel the spirit moving and to see the body of Christ reach out and wrap their arms around these kids and adults was a beautiful site.  Again, this is a reminder that God is God and we're not.  As we try to minister to these families, I ask that you would pray that God comfort both the family who lost the child and the family of there person who accidentally hit the child.  Both need God's comfort and our support.

At this time, I am begging you, my friends to pray fervently for our little community as we try to be the hands and feet of Christ and offer the support that these many families need.  While we don't fully understand why these things have happened, we know that we can trust the hands of God!  We don't always see where we are headed, but we can trust the plans of God.  Thank you for joining us in prayer and I trust that we can be the Body of Christ!