remembering days of daisy chains

A friend of mine commented the other day commented how grateful he was  that I have been naming the things that have been haunting our collective souls and is so doing allowing us to grieve.

We have found many scapegoats and demons which to rage against but be aware that there is but one mastermind behind the entire event. No, it was not God.

God has desired will and permitted will.

God's desired will was that all living and non-living things he created would never experience decay or destruction. We were created as immortal beings. We were made "very good".

Rocks were not made to fall on people and water was not designed to drown nations. They were made "good".

Floods, landslides, cancer and murder are the ill effects due to God's permitted will of giving us free will. Death and decay were intruders in the garden, thus the rage against it on the cross. The pride of Angels and of Men has led to suffering for one of three reasons;
Our sin...(we are the reason we are suffering)
another person's sin...(they have sinned against us)
or we live in a sin-sick natural order..(waters that were for life bring death)

Grief is the first step towards healing, so let us heal a little more.

Today please allow me to name another tear in the fabric of our hearts, in that by so naming it we can ask the Healer to repair the damage.

Our children are  growing up in a land desperately bereft of innocence. Kindness is random and acts of beauty have become senseless. Yes, it is there...but it is so fleeting that when we see it we celebrate it. Why? Because it is not our "normal". Images and stories of innocence and kindness goes viral because they are so rare.

No, we cannot blame the media for sensationalizing evil. Evil does not need to help to go viral. It is viral.

As the father of young kids I am heart sick about this, but not Hopeless. It causes me to pray all the more earnestly "maranatha, come Lord Jesus."....now, today. Make all things new...always and forever.

I am faced with the death of innocence for my children. I will grieve for it as I do for all things that die...well and deep but not without Hope.

Some will surely say cannot go back in time. Others will say 'the good old days" were not really "good old days". This may be true of television...but not of God.

God has a plan to reclaim the days...

He has promised it to us that one day he'll come back and  make all things New again.

It seemed like a dream, too good to be true,
    when God returned Zion’s exiles.
 

We laughed, we sang,
    we couldn’t believe our good fortune.
We were the talk of the nations—
    “God was wonderful to them!”
God was wonderful to us;
    we are one happy people.

And now, God, do it again—
    

 bring rains to our drought-stricken lives
So those who planted their crops in despair
    will shout hurrahs at the harvest,
So those who went off with heavy hearts
    will come home laughing, with armloads of blessing.

 Psalm 126