The innocence and trusting nature of a child is one of the most beautiful of God's creations. How a person could find it within himself to inflict any source of pain on a child is beyond me.
A lot of people are asking why this happened, and then the interest shifts to God. There's no denying that whether you are a follower of Christ, atheist, or agnostic, we all find ourselves asking, "But, why God? Why would you allow something like this to happen? Why didn't you show up?"
Well, a quick note: God did not allow this to happen; in fact, He tried to stop Adam on multiple occasions in the weeks leading up to the shooting, and the day of the shooting. And furthermore, God was on scene the entire time of the shooting.
The amazing thing about having a relationship with God is that he has blessed us with free will. What we choose to do with this gift is up to us: some people will choose to do good by this gift; and others, such as Adam Lanza will abuse this gift and choose evil.
Last night my pastor, Doug, made a wonderful point regarding God's presence during the day of the shooting. God wasn't curled up on the couch, asleep. He was up hours before Adam Lanza would get out of bed. He was in Adam's dreams, trying to convince him to stop the heinous crime he wanted so badly commit. He was in Adam's ear the entire drive over to the school, before the first shot, and every where in between. Adam chose evil, but others, they chose good.
A perfect example is Victoria Soto, the darling 27 year old teacher, who hid her first graders in cabinets, and when confronted by Adam, was shot, and killed. She could have chosen to exhibit her free will by hiding in the cabinets with her children, but instead, chose to shield the cabinets in an effort to protect the children. She ultimately saved 20+ lives. As far as I'm concerned God IS with Vicki, and all of the little children that lost their lives on Friday, and He WAS with them during the time of the shooting, reminding them that He loved them, and to be "brave."
I urge you to not lose faith in humanity as a whole. Yes, there are many evil people in the world, but there are many more good natured people. I leave you with a quote, a newsreporter on tv shared yesterday, that brings me hope: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” --Fred Rodgers
God bless Victoria Soto, and the other helpers of the world.
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