Let Love Shine

When I picked up my phone yesterday I had the thought, I wonder what is happening on Facebook today.
My next thought was, I hope nothing bad happened.
The first post - something bad had happened in Vegas.
I looked at the news.
Are there any words to express about something, that my mind cannot grasp, had  happened?
Then it got personal when I discovered a couple of my family members knew people who had lost their lives at this concert and others who were injured.
I have no words.
I cannot grasp who or why would do such a horrible thing. And whenever I think of what the people at the concert went through, while running away from the bullets, there is no words, only tears.
I am not normally a name caller, but no matter what his mental condition was at the time, no matter what his reasons, only a little coward would do what he did. The people had no way to defend themselves. No way to counter attack. Purely an evil cowardly act of violence.
And the point?
There is none.
Hatred cloaked in a coward’s bullets flew through the air taking lives that were full of love, dreams, and hopes for tomorrow.
People stood next to loved ones and shared their last moments dodging a coward’s bullet’s.
My mind cannot grasp the totality of what happened in that place. It doesn’t want to grasp it completely.
There are people who will HAVE to grasp what happened at such a painful personal level. Their loved one’s are not coming home.
My niece’s friends are not coming home.
My niece’s friends are injured.
There are husbands, wives, moms, dads, sisters, brothers, daughters, sons, cousins, friends…not coming home.
Because…
I went for a walk. How do you pray when there is so much tragedy? When there is so much devastation in this world brought on by storms, and then there is devastation brought on by senseless act of destruction.
And then to top it off - there is the fake news. There is the battle between the left and the right. Even in a horrible crisis such as this there is mud-slinging.
How does a person stop the cowardly bullets of hate so it will not spread hate further?
It is one of those times I believe God is there to catch the tears and I don’t have to have the right words. It is to big.
It is one of those times beyond anyone’s understanding of what evil can do to people’s lives, where it is necessary to hold onto the hand of LOVE.
Hold on tight and not be a part in spreading the coward’s message of evil cowardly hate that lead to violence.
Instead hold onto Jesus hand and know He hears all of the hearts crying.
He hears it all.
He walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death. He holds us and comfort us.
He can cover us with love when evil comes to destroy us.
The act of pure evil tries to snuff out the light.
I pray we will not let the light of LOVE be snuffed out. Instead, let the darkness of hate be snuffed out.
When I was young and my car broke down, I would walk from my apartment that was located close to downtown, up to my parent’s or friend’s house which was a couple miles away. Alone. At night.
It would be spooky when I walked by the grave yard, but only because of my very vivid imagination. However, I didn’t have any fear of someone grabbing me and putting me in their car.
Until…
Reports started coming from the Seattle area of girls coming up missing. And then the news started that these same girls were found dead.
I no longer felt safe walking by myself at night.
A baseball park located down the road from my childhood home was a great hangout place for us as kids. We played ball, slid down the dirt hills in the woods that surrounded the ball field, rode dirt bikes and hiked.
Two young brothers were found dead.
Those woods were no longer a safe place to go.
We would go to movie theaters by ourselves and let young children go to the bathrooms without worrying. Then the same killer of the boys in the woods, snatched one of his victims from the bathroom of a movie theater.
Theaters lost their “safety” appeal after that.
I used to jog all over the place, and then there was news of a serial Raper grabbing girls who were running or riding bikes. I started carrying mace, and running earlier in the day where people were around. 
Now that I am older, people are shot at movie theaters.
Theaters are no longer a safe place to be.
And shopping malls, festivals, and concerts.
Hate shows it’s face.
Hate takes away FREEDOM.
Seeds of hate causes violence to grow and grow and grow.
Seeds of love bring healing, comfort, happiness, and joy.
We cannot demand someone to love. We can only bring love to other people and drop seeds.
We can bring love that gives comfort. Love that brings healing.
I pray God will heal our land!
I pray God will heal me and you!
I pray God will pour out His comfort upon everyone who is experiencing the consequences of hate.
I pray I will not be the hater.
I pray I will be the forgiver.
I pray I will be the one who loves.
I pray those bullets of cowardly hate will not spread any further.
I pray you will know you are loved and God is there to comfort you right now, in this place.