Once You Get Past The Shock

What2Say2Day? I read a story on msnbc news yesterday which sent my normally emotionally balanced senses into a spin (follow this link if you want to read it - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46306931). The story involved a 19 year old girl who was sentenced to life with parole for killing her 9 year old neighbor a few years ago. She tells of her murder in a diary, calling it "ahmazing" and saying she just wanted to see what it felt like to kill someone. She also writes in her diary that after the murder she was shaky and nervous, which was followed by her writing "Kay, I gotta go to church now...lol." The report says she actually went to a youth dance at her church after strangling and stabbing that little girl. 

This story sent me into a shock, as I'm sure most of you are. I kept saying to myself, "Why? What would cause a 15 year old to do such a thing?" I spoke to a fellow worker at my church who had read the story, and he was just as puzzled as I was. We shared this story with other church staff and I sensed a feel of, "What do we do?" in the room.

Later that night, as the thoughts of this story kept circling through my soul, I had the opportunity to share with a few Young Adults from our church. We talked for a good hour or so about how this story made us feel, and what could lead to someone doing something like this just because they wanted to know how it felt. We all agreed that the story was shocking if not a little disturbing. We could see how living in a community, or a non-community, where nobody takes the time to make and develop relationships can be harmful.

We also agreed that we all know someone like this. Not to this extent, but someone who is on the edges, an outcast, someone who is isolated for whatever reasons from everyone else. Which is where we made the decision to be more Christ-like in our own ways and reach out to these people by listening more, being more aware of the people we come into contact with, and if allowed dig deeper into the relationships to understand what is going on in their lives.

Yes, stories like this happen more often than we would like. The question for us is do we perpetuate them by remaining in a state of shock and do nothing or do we find a way to find God within the stories. Let me end with today's entry with a question posed by one of our Young Adults - As Christ who would you visit first, the family of the 9 year old, or the family of the 19 year old?

Choose one and visit. Then go visit the other.