Making Sense of Senseless

I have been trying to wrap my brain around the tragedy that occurred in Tucson last weekend. Of course, "rational" human beings really aren't able to make sense of something that is truly and completely senseless. The shooting really struck a cord with me. One of the victims was a "friend-of-a-friend" from college. He graduated a year after me. I met him on dozens of occasions, but he wasn't anything more than a "see you at the party" acquaintence. Still, when you see a photo and name of a person you know as a victim of something like this, it has a toll. And, of course, the death of the young girl really hit us. Our son turns nine next week, and I cannot imagine losing him in such a way. Added to that the fact that we have lost a child and I can completely empathize with little Christina's parents. I am grateful that the hateful cult from Kansas did not show up to "protest" at her funeral. When I first read those news stories, I was ready to take a day trip down there myself and picket in front of them that our God is a God of LOVE, not hate. More senselessness that I cannot comprehend. How can anyone be so heartless, and in the Name of God? Appalling.

There is just no good thing that I can see arising from this situation. But, somehow, it works into God's plan. And, any "normal" human would wonder--HOW? At least, I consider myself normal and I wonder. But, God is Sovereign, and somehow, it all fits into His perfect plan. Just like the earthquake in Haiti; just like 9-11. It's hard to fathom, for us, as humans, because we do not have the understanding that God has. We do not see the complete picture. Because God is not limited by time or space; not by written history or unwritten history; but we are. So we cannot make sense of things. Yet, we still have to have to deal with them. And there are a lot of ways we can do that. We can argue and point fingers; we can be complacent and not let it affect us; or we can trust God and move forward, and perhaps we can learn something from this devastation.

Col 2:2-3 ~ "My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."