Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7 NRSV)
This is a really tall order today. 2 days after so many young innocent lives were lost how can we rejoice?
In the face of so many going to a place tomorrow that is suppose to be safe, and worry for their safety, how can we rejoice?
These are questions we are all struggling with through this season of waiting for the return of our King, for the birth of our savior and a celebration of a holiday that seems to be so far from the original we have lost ourselves in the commercialization of society. How do we rejoice in a dark time when lives were lost long before their time and society seems to be so far away from God?
That is the very reasons we should rejoice! God is with us everywhere we go! The reason my wife and I tell our children on Sunday morning we are going to worship, not to church, because we can not go to church. We are the church and every where we go, God goes with us. That doesn’t mean that He isn’t already there, but we also bring Him with us every where we go, and that my friends is reason to rejoice!
I saw this on Facebook, and thought I would share it:
For those claiming school tragedies are a result of God be taken out of schools:
* When a teacher’s actions were in the loving interest of protecting their students…God was there.
* When a teacher consoled her students, frightened at what was to come…God was there.
* When an administrator tried earnestly to disarm an individual intent on hurting her students…God was there.
* When a student held on to one of their classmates, comforting one another…God was there.
* When law enforcement went in to secure the building and were faced with the emotional process of what they witnessed…God was there.
* When clergy from all faiths descended on the area to console and comfort families in their time of need…God was there.
* When families embraced one another, trying to comprehend why…God was there.
* When a child, a teacher, a parent, a sibling, a relative, a law enforcement agent, a clergy person, an individual throughout the world offered up a prayer…God was there. I resist to believe that God has ever been taken out of schools. God is invited in to any place when one carries Him in their heart, in their thoughts, and through their actions. God is not a class, a printed sign, nor a time allotted for prayer. God is where you personally allow Him to be. Don’t place blame on an institution for removing God, blame yourself for thinking that was a limitation. God was there on Friday as he has been everyday. He was hurting the most throughout the ordeal.
So thank God for always being with you and rejoice always that He goes everywhere you go!
aSacredRebel 