"...a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance..."
The worst-ever mass shooting in Texas occurred just before noon yesterday. Evil, in the form of a gunman, invaded the modest worship service at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, and murdered 26 people. Their ages were anywhere from 5 to 72.
Horrific. Unimaginable.
Sometimes, there is only a time to mourn.
Unfortunately, we're in America 2017 with the political tribes and instant media. There won’t be a proper period of mourning before the clamor starts for laws to prevent this from ever happening again. In fact, the clamor has already started.
The reality that you probably won’t hear in those debates is this is not a winnable fight. You cannot legislate the human heart. No amount of freedom or restriction can keep this from happening. That’s not a fatalistic view, for some reason it’s just the way the world is that we find ourselves in. Evil definitely exists, but so does good. They are constantly at war and they have been forever. The battle is just heating up.
RELATED: Support First Baptist Church and Community in Sutherland Springs, Texas
There aren't any easy answers here. Just about anything anyone says after a tragedy like this sounds trite and inadequate. Sometimes, there is only a time to mourn.
If you were blessed to wake up this morning, you have a choice. We all do. How do we choose to live after we hear about 26 strangers murdered in south Texas? Will you choose to let it change your perspective? Will you look at this and begin to believe that everything is evil or will you choose to see the good? Will you choose to live with renewed purpose and diligence? Will you help someone in your life? Will you serve your community? Will you love your family more than you have?
Or will you choose to ignore this tragedy, watch it as some political thing and move on, just another far away news story that has doesn't have any real bearing on your life? That would be a terrible mistake.
The truth is whatever you choose.
Between what happened in Las Vegas and then last week what happened in New York and now Sutherland Springs, if we aren’t shaken to our core by the reality that things are changing and life is precious and short, and that we need to live it well, and that what we do in our own life makes a difference, and we'd better hold our kids close and teach them the things we used to find self-evident, then perhaps nothing will wake us up.
The truth is whatever you choose. You're either going to step out into an angry, cynical, bitter world today, or you're going to step out into a world where you are not alone, where there are more good people than bad people and you're surrounded by people that want to stand up, they're just looking for the opportunity.
That's the choice you have to make. And whichever one you choose will become your reality. Choose wisely.
Looking for a way to help the victims and their families affected by this tragedy? Donate to Mercury One's campaign to support humanitarian efforts in Sutherland Springs, Texas today. Even $5 will help provide relief and aid to this devastated community.