The last sentence was of the man's father sharing what the officer's two year old daughter said when she saw him lying there dead, "'Dada.' She cried out for her father, 'Dada.'" You can read the story here http://www.stripes.com/news/us/officer-killed-in-dallas-shootings-had-survived-3-tours-in-iraq-1.418138
Do these killers ever read these stories after it's all said and done? Do they think about the numerous lives impacted by the deaths of the people they murdered? Do they think about the wives, husbands, sons, daughters, infants, mothers, fathers, when they're shooting, killing, murdering?
No. They can't.
They can't imagine the pain caused by their actions. They have no clue what they're doing. Pure evil resides in them stemmed from hurt, anger, fear.....
I kissed my daughter several more times tonight than usual. I hugged my husband tighter today; watched my son with a deeper admiration. My prayers are not just "keep my family safe, Lord" anymore. I now ask God to allow me to be my children's mother as long as possible. I ask Him to allow me to keep my children as long as possible. And finally, I pray for my children to live a life of faith after I am no longer on this earth.
Many people would agree that shootings like these are stemmed from evil. Here's the thing though, if you're going to believe in evil, then you have to believe in God. And Christians, if you're going to believe in God, then you have to believe in evil. They go hand-in-hand. You cannot choose to just believe in one or the other.
So as I continue to prayer for law enforcement and I continue to pray for hearts to come to Jesus, I have hope. He hears me. He hears you. He hears the cries of those mourning the deceased. I have hope because I know the end of the story. You can easily know the end as well. It's in the last book of the Bible, Revelation.
Two things I want to point out...
Googles definition of faith:
fāTH/
noun
- 1.complete trust or confidence in someone or something.
- 2.strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.
I have hope based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof. Because of my personal relationship with Jesus Christ, I have experienced Him. That's my proof, if you needed it.
Wikipedia's definition of hope is as follows:
Hope is an optimistic attitude of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes related to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large.[1] As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish a desire with anticipation"
I expect with confidence because I know the end of the story.
The middle of the story is the scary part. We don't know the titles of each chapter. We don't know what the characters will choose to do. We aren't even certain of the main plot. I will tell you though, that the main theme is to love Christ. Ultimately, what He requires of us is to love, trust, and obey. It's simple, but it's not easy. Because of the evil, because of the sin, because of our strong desire of self, it's impossible to obey Him without His help. And He gives it each morning that we wake up. What we did yesterday is forgiven and forgotten by the time we wake the next day, if we ask His forgiveness. The hardest part is admitting we're wrong.
So, pointing fingers? Judging? Arguing about race, religion, in the law enforcement situation- what came first the chicken or the egg? It's all useless. There is one Judge who sees every heart. Prayers for those shooting and prayers for those dying is the best we can do in a story we are not writing.
If you don't know Jesus, you're missing out on hope. It's real and it's the only way to cope in this evil world. Christ will redeem those who believe in Him.
Revelation 1:3 "Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near."
