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Hope in the midst of a Dark (k)Night

In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech massacre of 2007, candle light vigils were held in honor of the victims. Facebook hate groups were also established directed at Seung-Hui Cho, the shooter who killed 32 people before joining his victims. In 1999, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris targeted and killed 12 students and 1 teacher, along with wounding 21 others and fnally taking their own lives at Columbine High School in Colorado. Just after midnight on July 20th, 2012, movie goers viewing the opening screening of the Dark Knight rises in a theater outside of Denver, Colorado, fled in terror as a lone gunman open fired killing at least 12 people and injuring nearly 60 others.

The tragedy and heartache of these events cannot be fully expressed in words on a page. As I caught wind of the news of this shooting, my heart broke not simply for those directly affected but for the world as a whole. We are so quick to point the finger of blame in this instances: after Columbine, attacks on the music culture of Marilyn Manson were rampant, after Virginia Tech the anger against Cho fueled into racial hatred and suspicion. But as the Christian community we know better; we know the enemy is not an individual or a stereotype. It's not a sub-culture or genre. Ephesians 6 tells us that our fight is not against flesh and blood humans beings; it is against an invisible, subtle enemy. An enemy who will use any person or situation to blind us to who and what we should truly be fighting. In reality, we are all victims. Tragedy is both a reminder and an opportunity to love those who are hurting.

Romans 3:23 reminds us that we are sick with the disease of sin, all prey to Satan's attacks against us and against each other through us. But verse 24 reminds us that we all have the remedy available to us. "EVERYONE has sinner, we ALL fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous, He did this through Chris Jesus when He freed us from the penalty of sin."

On the cross Christ not only paid the price for the evil we commit and the evil committed against, He suffered and bore the pain that we all bear when we go through heartbreaking circumstances.

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