Reflections on Colorado Shootings

Most of you have probably been following the news recently about the shootings at the YWAM training facility and the church in Colorado. The senselessness of the whole thing has really effected me. Apparently, the gunman had spent time at the YWAM center, and was kicked out. And, then he spent the next five years seething with anger. What kind of evil gripped this man?

What's even more staggering to me is the sacrifice of the four young people who died. At the YWAM center, the two victims were in the early 20's. They were serving God, and probably passionate about loving Jesus and other people. At the church, the two victims were teenage siblings. These deaths, especially the two from YWAM, remind me of the cost of discipleship. I don't know if we should call these people martyrs or not, but they counted their lives worth nothing compared to the greatness of knowing Jesus.

I'm becoming more and more convinced that Kathi and I are going to be called to make a similar sacrifice. I'm not expecting to be killed for my faith per se. But, I'm seeing more clearly that following Jesus means laying down your life. For us this may just look like giving up what others think of us (and believe me, this requires a kind of death), and living lives to please Him only. I'm understanding a bit more what Jesus meant when he called us to take up our cross. The Good News is that through dying (whether it's physical dying or some emotion/spiritual death) we then can know his resurrection life.

"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection of the dead." -Philippians 3:10-11