First of all, CONGRATULATIONS to Whitney Elbers and Courtney Fey in winning last week’s math quiz from my article. The correct answer was 1.4 inches of rain fell while I was writing the article. May you be blessed as you savor every bite of your cyclone from JJ’s!
On a more somber note, on Tuesday morning a high school student in Troutdale, Oregon opened fire, killing freshman Emilio Hoffman. Following yet another tragic and senseless school shooting, President Obama responded by saying, “The country has some soul searching on this. This is becoming the norm. Our levels of gun violence are off the charts. There’s no other advanced, developed country on earth that would put up with this. We should be ashamed of the shooting after shooting on our streets and in our schools. We should be ashamed that Congress sits on its hands and does nothing to curb the slaughter.”
In a following interview President Obama said, “Yes mental health is an issue related to violence, and we have to find better ways of dealing with it. But other countries have people with mental illnesses and don’t have shootings on this scale. The United States does not have the monopoly on crazy people. Yet we’re the only developed country that repeatedly has such terrible acts. There’s no place else like this.”
A natural human response in time of tragedy is to find out who, or what, is to blame. After a brief reflection of President Obama’s soul-searching on why we should be ashamed, I believe he has found three reasons for these meaningless deaths. Blame must first be placed on guns. Secondly, the blame rests on Congress whose hands seemed to be stuck under their butts. And then thirdly, but nearly as important as the first two, mental illness is to blame—it’s all those “crazy people” in our society.
Really, really…guns, congress, and mental illness are to blame for Emilio’s death. My first thought is that there must have been something wrong in the heart of the shooter. I believe it was Jesus who said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Matthew 15:19)
You know the sobering truth is, when it comes to technology, industry, and military power, America may be an “advanced and developed” country, but when it comes to getting at the heart of why our country is becoming more and more immoral, we rank right at the top with the rest of the “underdeveloped” countries in the world.
All President Obama would’ve had to say in response to the shooting is, “Fellow American’s, according to God’s holy and inspired word in Proverbs 29, ‘Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.’ In other words, if our nation is going to overcome our increase in immorality, our government, our education leaders, and our parents must repent of our spiritual adultery against God and idolatry of self. And I humbly declare, I am ashamed of my leadership, it must begin with me! We must turn our hearts back to God and begin living according to his revealed Word. We must begin to instill in our youngest generation that in order for the glory of God’s kingdom to be established in our land, it begins by having the humility to love God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength and to love their neighbors as much as they love themselves.”
Well, I’m not sure writing Presidential speeches is for me; however, it is my prayer that you and I would model to this increasingly corrupt world, a heart that is fascinated by Jesus and with a passion to live and love like him.
Deeply saddened, Mike