The recent devestating news reminds me of a similar tragedy- the school shooting at Thurston High School in May of 1998. I was a high school art teacher at the time, but at a school across town from Thurston High. There was a district-wide lockdown, and I spent the five hours in a locked classroom helping students process a gamut of emotions.
A year later, there was a mass shooting at Columbine High in Colorado. My husband's friend happened to be in the school's cafeteria that day. He helped get kids to safety.
Thurston, Littleton, Newtown- these are small communities, yet so many of us have been personally impacted by their tragic stories. I want to believe that we've seen the last of these senseless killings, but we live in a broken world. So I turn to God for hope, for He brings light into a dark world. In fact, He willingly entered a dark world to love it and save it.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5
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| Rembrandt, Adoration of the Shepherds, oil on canvas, 1646. National Gallery London. |
Well said Cathy - turning to Him because we have nothing else. It is such a dark dark world, and He is our only hope!
ReplyDeleteI never had such an experience as a teacher, but did have many "Code Red" drills, as we called them. And of course, I always thought, "This would never happen at our school." But more and more it becomes apparent that it could happen anywhere...which makes me cling to God even more.