Eleven more are dead, several injured, and the world continues to ache for peace.

What has brought us such brokenness?
Guns? Yes.
Mental illness? Yes.
Hateful rhetoric? Yes.
Violent expression of prejudice? Yes.

But each are tools in the hands of the enemy who continually turns us in upon our own souls. As long as the human soul seeks satisfaction through self-rule, that soul, and the many around it, will suffer greater frustration and despair.

We are in an age that is not unlike all those that have passed before except in intensity. The human soul has constantly striven for self-rule, but in previous times surrounding voices of gentle wisdom could often speak loud enough to provide a place of hope when foolishness would run amok. Those wise and gentle voices seem muffled today, even within the heart of the Body of Christ, the Church.

The God Who made us, and has redeemed us through His Son is our only hope. The Good News is just as powerful, and just as genuinely good as ever. The work of God alone brings peace and hope.

Tomorrow millions will gather in the name of Jesus to sing, pray, embrace, and hear God speak. Do each with intensity. Worship Him alone. Pray believing. Embrace one another as the brothers and sisters that we are. Hear deeply so that everyday following is being transformed into days of Christ’s enlarging presence in our communities.

Our world is not hopeless. It is rooted in the future realization of all things being made new. If we live as we profess to believe, we shall behold the miracle of redeeming grace all around us.

“The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” – Deuteronomy 6:4-5

Grace and peace to all.