The Last Couple of Days

Well, it has been an interesting couple of days here. Yesterday morning I woke up early and checked the email and there was someone checking in on us. That was the first I had heard of the shooting up near Denver at YWAM missionary training center: two dead, two wounded. People here started getting calls during the morning. The first news reports said “shooting at Colorado mission training center,” which caused concern. It’s not everyday that you are at a missionary training center and just up the road about 50 miles, another training center someone walks in and opens fire. Personally I didn’t think a lot about it-it was ironic (just the fact that we are at a training center too).
It was Sunday morning, instead of going to church we decided to go outside and play with the ids. We had 2-3 inches of fresh snow. It was clear skies and 35 degrees, so our church was just enjoying ourselves in the snow with the kids. Kel and I really didn’t think a whole lot more about the shooting. Typically random acts of violence are not random. After dinner we put all the kids to bed for naps. We were downstairs sitting together working on our December newsletter. Brent came out and said he had just received a call from his mom who had told him about the shooting at New Life church, just 10 miles down the road from us. Now people at MTI began getting nervous. We had little info-all we knew was that a person or persons were targeting Christian facilities in the area. The police came and filled us in and we basically went into “lock down”. We were informed not to go out or let anyone in that we didn’t know. I suggested that we take up a collection so that I could go purchase a new firearm, but I didn’t have any takers. That evening pretty much everyone got together to sing (three guys brought out their guitars and one his flute), play games, hang out. It was a party atmosphere. It was interesting to watch how people reacted in an actual “crisis” event. I knew Sunday night that we would probably be discussing this event (feelings, emotions, reactions) Monday morning, and I was right. We spent all morning (3 hours-2 hours too many from my perspective) on it.
I just didn’t have too much to “work through”, but here are a few thoughts-
In my mind it is just a sign of the times. Christ Himself said the world will hate us. We really should not be surprised by this. If we live out our lives as Christ followers and the closer we get to the rapture, the worse it is going to get. So I ask this question: What are we to do as Christ followers? Run and hide, stand still and tall, or stand and fight?? How many “Christians” will stand with Christ when persecution comes to this country?
One lesson I think I learned is the importance of the community of believers, to come together. There is strength, love, tenderness in that fellowship.