PRAY FOR AMERICA

Nothing, absolutely nothing,
happens in God’s world by accident.
God doesn’t make mistakes
These words are the cornerstone of my belief system. They come from my ‘other’ bible, the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. These words are the inspiration for my personal recovery, both physically and spiritually. It’s difficult to apply these words to yesterday’s horror in Texas, however. I spent some time in the armed services and went through combat in Viet Nam.

I can understand the need to take lives to protect one’s self and those whose lives are entrusted to you. I can understand police activity that involves the use of deadly force in order to “protect the domestic tranquility“. I understand that this is part of the world in which we live and I trust that these actions are all part of a plan, the nature of which I do not have the need or ability to know.

What I’m having a difficult time wrapping my head around this morning, is the purpose in the killings and wounding of unarmed people who were waiting in line to defend me and our country. I’m having difficulty accepting this terror as part of a plan of my loving, benevolent God. It all seems so senseless.

It’s things like this that really test my faith in God and His plan. I have to fight off the instinct to demand explanations and insist that this horror make sense. I truly have difficulty letting God take care of His world and my part in it.

What I have to remember is that I’m understanding exactly everything I’m supposed to at this time. I’m exactly where I am supposed to be right now. I’m who I am meant to be, right now.

There is a purpose. There is a plan. And there is no reason to believe that anything is not precisely as it is supposed to be in God’s world.

Dear God, thank you for granting me ignorance of Your wisdom, the gift of pain and grief, and the benefit of Your love. I trust You , absolutely. I ask that You provide these victims and those around them only that ignorance, pain and grief, and love they are able to benefit from. May the teaching of Jesus the Nazarene guide us through these next few days. Amen.