If you live in the U.S., it’s hard not to know what happened in the early hours of Friday, July 20, in a theater in Aurora, Colorado. A lone gunman opened fire on a movie house filled with people watching the final installment of the Batman series, “The Dark Knight Rises.” There has been no escaping the mainstream and social media coverage of one of the deadliest shootings in our country. Yesterday, the public got its first look at the alleged shooter, James Holmes.
The people of Aurora are in mourning for the twelve victims who lost their lives, and are praying and pulling for those who are still in hospitals. Like the immediate aftermath of similar tragedies at Fort Hood, Virginia Tech, Tucson, Oakland, and Columbine, among others, survivors, families, friends, and the rest of us are left to ask the all too familiar question in the wake of a tragedy: Why?
Would these gunmen have committed these heartless crimes had they heard the Gospel? Would a profound kindness shown to them have changed their minds about the evil they planned and committed? What pushed these men over the edge of no return?
We’ll never know the answers to these questions. We can conclude that we live in a fallen world where God gives us the freedom to choose if we’ll accept or reject Him. The result of either choice will lead us down opposite paths, until one day, we face a Righteous Judge who sees and knows everything we’ve ever done with each breath we take.
The Aurora massacre is not likely to be the last tragic shooting we’ll ever know. We are reminded of the fragility of life; the brevity of our steps; the fleetingness of our dreams. We return to our unscathed lives, mindful that there are those who cannot. No words will ever bring comfort to those in such profound pain. Our prayer offerings can feel like feeble attempts to soothe. Yet we pray anyways. For prayer seems to be the one thing we can do.
The media will move on and cast its light on the next big newsmaker. Survivors, families, and friends will attempt to live and move forward. The rest of us will pick up where we left off after the horrible news we heard on July 20, not knowing when our time is up. However, our true hope and comfort is that we know exactly where we’re going when that time comes.
Prayer, indeed, is the one thing we can do, for others and ourselves.
