Shooting Close to Home

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26494404.post-10559703086735519642007-12-10T15:21:00.000-05:002007-12-10T18:11:29.559-05:00Shooting Close to HomeWe all wear different hats. Most of the time I blog here while donning a magazine editor's hat. Today, though, I know of no other way to respond to Sunday's shootings in Colorado than by taking off that professional garb and putting on a more personal one. Not six months ago my family and I moved from Colorado Springs. We still consider it home. Though we didn't attend New Life Church, we know countless people who do. It's hard to live in that city and not have some connection to the church. We drove by it almost daily on our way to our closest friends' house. In fact, I recognized virtually every camera angle of the church campus offered to us yesterday as the news networks relayed the latest information. And though no one I know was killed or injured, the tragedy still hits home—hard. The same is true of the equally senseless shootings at the Youth With a Mission base in Arvada. As a missionary kid who grew up in Hong Kong, I've been impacted by YWAMers my entire life. They are a wonderful and rare breed. Most recently my sister-in-law returned from serving on a YWAM team in Cambodia, and many of her friends lived in Colorado Springs and were semi-connected to the Arvada campus. (They also knew someone who was shot at New Life.) There's a sense of déjà vu in all this. More than eight years ago, a friend of my wife's was gunned down at Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. Seven people were murdered and seven more injured after a gunman stormed into a Wednesday night youth service and opened fire during a prayer rally. Some of my closest friends' lives were drastically changed that day, and the tragedy has never left them—or me, for that matter. Things like this don't leave us, nor should they. And yet, as I scroll down the <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/rapids/ci_7679342">ever-increasing list</a> of churches and ministries affected by senseless violence, I can't help but notice how this is about something that is anything but senseless. This is about the church. It's about the natural, foretold opposition against those who stake their lives on the name of Jesus. It's about a spiritual war being fleshed out with greater frequency on this earth, in this day and in our society. I see this daily during my workday routine. Each morning after logging onto my computer I start by scrolling through a list of church- and ministry-related headlines posted online the previous night from around the world. Every day it's filled with stories of African Christians tortured, Filipino pastors gunned down or Indian believers martyred for their faith. And every day I'm struck by the same thought: How is it so easy for me to just keep scrolling down and treat these headlines the same as I would another Britney Spears headline? OK, that may be a slight exaggeration. But the reality is that those events have yet to become my reality. I don't comprehend them, therefore I'd rather not think about them. The only time I really let things sink in is when tragedy hits home—like now. The worldwide church is deeply familiar with a violent opposition; for the American church, it's relatively new. Does this diminish the tragedy? Of course not. We are called to mourn with those who mourn. And I'm currently grieving two events that hit closer than I'd prefer. But in the midst of praying for the families who have lost loved ones, for a church and ministry facing an unexpected path and for a pastor (Brady Boyd) who, only months into leading his new congregation, must comfort them through the unthinkable ... in the midst of all this, I'm also reminded that the church in the United States is not the norm. We are far from the standard set by the church described in Acts. We hardly look like many of our sister congregations overseas who are regularly persecuted yet continue to grow in strength and number. We are, for the most part, a glamorous, comfortable people who are finally getting our makeup smeared through recent tears. Wouldn't it be like God to continue to use such persecution as we've seen in recent years to reshape us into the church He wants rather than the church we've become? If we follow the belief that God does not cause this persecution but allows it (2 Tim. 3:12), then I know His plan is more powerful than any madman's bullet. He mourns while knowing we are stronger than our tears. We are His people, called by His name. That means not only will we overcome through Him, we'll be given the strength to glorify His name through the darkest of times. YOUR TURN: What are your thoughts on the Colorado shootings? How did the news affect you? What do you see these latest attacks signifying for the church?Marcus Yoarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17904433211603328492noreply@blogger.com