Imagine for a few seconds how wonderful it would be if the Lord placed you in a small town near a major university. You could enjoy the many benefits of a stimulating academic environment and escape from the stresses and strains of urban ministry while teaching the Bible and God's love to young people eager to serve Jesus with fervor.
Ministry on a college campus has many benefits and many blessings. You can pursue an advanced degree in a field dear to you while enjoying the coffee bars and open discussions of students. Then one day the peace is shattered at Virginia Tech by a young man who goes off the deep end and kills 32 of his fellow students. How do you and your ministry respond?
Life is filled with tragic and painful events. People are injured in accidents, babies die of SIDS or cancer. Young men are struck down in war leaving a wife and baby behind and they all turn to us in their time of need. The recent murders in Virginia are reminders of the fact that we live in a fallen universe with deeply flawed people, some of whom take their raging madness out on enemies that exist only in their troubled minds.
Over the past few years we have seen a spate of "Mindless Killings". Columbine High School is burned into our memories because of the evil deeds of two adolescent boys who played with real guns and destroyed the lives of many fellow students. Nineteen Radical Muslims flew airplanes filled with women, children and men into buildings and left over 3000 families in grief and pain. All of these are "senseless".
What is the role of Christians and of Christian leaders in these situations? What can we do? We can do what we do best and are always on call to do: "Weep with those that weep". But, we can also do more than that.
Over the next few posts I will lay out a few things we can do and the things we cannot do and must not try to do. I hope the posts are of assistance to you and that you will interact with us with your comments.
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