Broken Hearts

Last week, the news cycle was again driven by the tragedy of a school shooting. They seem to happen with some frequency. According to everytownresearch.org, in an article posted three months ago, there have been more than three hundred such shootings since 2013, averaging one a week. People smarter than I will go on and on about the reasons: rampant bullying, poor gun control, lack of parent involvement.

As far as I'm concerned, it boils down to one thing: we live in a fallen world in need of a Savior.

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What would cause a teenager to carry an illegal weapon to school and destroy lives, the lives of people now gone and the lives of the people left behind? Anger, despair. Those are symptoms.

Neither he nor the classmates who have bullied him value life. They have grown up in a society that tells them they are the result of a series of evolutionary accidents. They have never heard the truth, and perhaps you haven't, either

You are loved. You are not a mistake or an accident. You have value, and your life has purpose. You are not what they say you are, and your identity is not the sum total of your mistakes.

Jeremiah 1:5: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart... God knows who you are. He knows your name.

Isaiah 49:15: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!... God will never leave you. Even when you feel alone and rejected, He is with you.

Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.... Your life is not an accident,. Your life has purpose and meaning.

Jeremiah 31:3: The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness... God loves you!

Romans 5:8: But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.... God showed that love by sending His Son to die on a cross. He didn't do that because He had to. He wanted to, because you are worth any cost.

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My heart breaks for the school students in Texas who have survived this tragedy, for the ones who were killed and their loved ones left behind. My heart breaks for the teens who feel so overwhelmed they turn to violence, and the ones so overwhelmed they turn into bullies. My heart breaks for the teacher and administrators. My heart breaks for our nation.

There is hope, and there can be healing.

Please share this with anyone who needs to hear this message. Please pray.