Tragedy in Las Vegas

Originally shared @ rebirththebook.com

I’m not going to write a quasi-obligatory "praying for Las Vegas" status update, or re-tweet one of the photos with the same caption. I can't do it. 
 
I am, however, all too familiar with the flashing lights of the police cars that haunted my mind for days. Waking up in terror, walking down the grocery store aisle in fear, thinking if it happened in the school, it could happen anywhere. I'll also confess that I've looked at an unsuspecting man and pondered if the innocent guy might have a gun and an evil plot to break out in a barrage of gun fire to destroy everyone around him. It's just how you live in the wake of unfathomable devastation. 
 
I've asked all the common questions to God, I've prayed for the dead bodies to get back up, and I've wondered many... many... things.
 
Gunfire always produces the same smoke. The same arguments. The same darn hashtags. And I'm sick of it.
 
 When the smoke settles there are two sides, peering evil at each other, each convinced this is discussion is simple and black and white. But somehow, the gray area grows more and more after each shooting.
 
After Sandy Hook, I had reporters carry my groceries in, so desperate for more fuel to add to their story.  They took the photos they liked, and the words that fit, never to be seen from again. I told them that I was glad I could defend myself and my 9 month old baby, as state troopers swarmed the outside of our house on the hunt for a second suspect. But that never showed up in the stories... It was just another writing gig for them, after all. 
 
So while my heart mourns for the loss and devastation in Las Vegas, I'll choose to keep praying for the hearts in our nation. Evil comes from the heart. It's existed from the moment Satan brought sin into the world. Murder even brought destruction into the very first family recorded in Scripture. Jesus didn't ask us to pass legislation that fit our views, He calls us to reach the lost. When love doesn't reach them, ISIS, ANTIFA, the KKK, Satan, or "insert whatever adjective here" will reach them and cater to their pain and deficiencies. Then their pain becomes our pain, in very horrific ways. 
 
Compliment a stranger today. Love someone who’s different than you. Show more compassion than you need to, and love your neighbor more than yourself. And pray that God’s will be done in our live as it is in Heaven.
 
 
Blessings,
Alex