Man Shoots 11, Killing 5 Girls, in Amish School

Mike Mergen/Bloomberg News Amish men standing near Pennsylvania State Police outside the scene of a school shooting today in Bart Township, Pa.

Warning: This may be a theme that seems familiar, while it is I assure you it is different from what I have posted before. Just think about it.

So if you haven't heard, two days ago a man armed with a handgun walked into an Amish school and performed an event of tragic proportions (For more info you can read about it at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/03/us/03amish.html). I heard news of this event sometime in the past 24 hours without having much information on the actual situation. To be honest I just let it blow over, you know how we can just read over things and not even think about it. Even events such as these. Then tonight in class Ed, one of my Theology profs, was talking about freedom and how that is part of the concept of the Image of God, he actually brought up this event so its not all my own thoughts but in part some are my own. When God created humans he gave us the ability to choose whether it be good or bad. I continued to think about this concept after class due to a conversation I had with a female friend. She commented about something that happened to me over the past year. My response to this was “Well that’s life.” To which she responded that it was part of life but she still didn’t think it was right.

All this got me thinking about a concept of immense proportions. Now this is directed to my Christian brothers and sisters, but it can apply to the whole of humanity as well. Life here in America we find ourselves bombarded with choices; school, job, spouse, movies, music, food, all aspects of life are available for us to choose from. Some of these choices do not matter. Others do. But the type of choice I really want to talk about applies to interpersonal relationships. When we are in relationship (not only romantic, but interaction with any other human being) with others we have two choices we can make concerning that individual. We can decide to be one of two kinds of people in that person’s life.

We can

A: Be a person who brings life into the situation. When we spend time with this person we can breathe life into them and they will be better when we leave them. We can leave an orchard behind us as we walk through life.

Or

B: Be a person who brings death into the situation. When we spend time with this person we leave them destroyed. What follows us is a path of destruction. We can leave a burnt field that is worse off than when we encountered.

As we go through life we can leave others positively influenced or negatively influenced. The truth about it is we can be life givers or life takers. What will you choose?

Father I pray for the families of those victims of this man’s choice to be a life taker. I pray that you will bring healing to the community which now must deal with the loss of precious life. God help them to express their pain to you in a real way. Father this makes me angry that this happens, but Lord I trust that you are in control even when it doesn’t seem like you are here. God you are present to this situation. Let those families who have lost or been hurt be surrounded by life givers. Allow this event to remind us that we have the choice to do good or bad in every situation. Father, enable us to lament this loss, but also learn from it. Father gives us the strength to bring life. Amen

May you be a life giver in your life and plant an orchard as you walk.