Las Vegas Nevada
October 1st as the shooting rang out in Las Vegas Nevada my children where up laughing and enjoying a riddlefest in my living room, each challenging the group with the best riddle they could. I fell asleep to their laughter. Earlier that morning we all worshiped together, all seven of us. Life was good. That evening before I went to bed I hugged my daughter, whom would be leaving to go home before I got back from work. She is only here for a visit. She lives in…Las Vegas.
This morning as I left for work she was asleep in the girls bedroom with my other daughter. I had no idea what I would hear about on the news on my way to work, I only knew my house was peaceful with all tucked away safe in their beds. When I first heard the news of a shooting my first thought was gratitude. Thank you Lord my daughter is safe here in Missouri away from the shooting, away from the chaotic scene that I imagine is yet playing out today in the aftermath. Chaos that will last for days and days.
My second thought is not the why, I know the why. Do I know what motive this shooter had, nope, sure don’t. But I do know why bad things happen in this world. It started with a man named Adam and the Bible tells us through him sin entered the world, Death reigned and passed onward to all mankind. We live in a fallen world, that is the why. Soon we will hear every amount of bloviating from the media digging into every inch of this mans life, searching for a motive. Then we will hear every sort of blame come. It’s the GOP’s fault, It’s the Democrat’s fault, we need more gun control, we need less gun control, it’s Trump’s fault, it’s Obama’s fault (yeah I know he is not even in office anymore, still you wait, it will happen)… Same story different day, different event, different scene of brokenness, but it is still the same story. No these were not my second thoughts.
My second thought was to mourn for those whose lives are in the midst of this chaos. Where is their hope today? I spent some windshield time praying, asking God to send hope to a people in mourning. Send hope and comfort those who grieve.
Lastly, I began to pray for revival. In the church. I did not pray for a “vival” outside the church I prayed for a “re” vival inside the body of Christ. You cant revive something that has not been vived to begin with, grammar Nazi’s please don’t crucify me yet. The church, the body of Christ is to be the “hope bringers” to the world. We carry 
inside us every day, in every moment, everywhere, hope. We are to have this presence that is so powerful that when we walk into the room the atmosphere shifts and hope floods in. That’s what we carry, that’s who we are.
Right now in this moment in time there is scarcely a difference between the world and the body of Christ. There is hopelessness abounding in both spheres, in the church and in the world. Hope, according to Paul in Romans 5 “does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit”
Right now I am praying “Pour out your love Lord Jesus and pour out hope to this world through us your people. Make us available hope bringers during this crisis and during every normal non- crisis filled day, make us be hope bringers on those days too Lord”. Won’t you also join me in making this our focus instead of letting the same ole story take over? Before we start the finger pointing, the politicking, the anger and outcry for something to be done, can we come together and ask God to change us to be more like Him? Can we ask God to make us hope bringers like He is, like He did for us.