(Warning: This post references the recent events in Newtown, Connecticut. I don’t want to ambush anybody with that.)

I try to sleep, but sleep does not come.

I think again about the children, about the teachers who sacrificed themselves.

And then my anxious mind wanders to so many other evils of mankind. The wars between Native Americans and settlers….genocide in Rwanda…drone attacks….

Thanks a lot, Newtown shooter. That’s exactly what I want to be thinking this time of year.

And yet that’s kinda the point of this time of year, isn’t it?

As much as I enjoy feeling warm and fuzzy at Christmastime, Jesus didn’t come to Earth just so I can listen to Bing Crosby and drink peppermint hot chocolate.

Butterfly

He came to fix a desperately broken world. And boy, has that world seemed extra desperate and broken recently.

His work is finished. He reigns supreme. But on this side of the veil we still see the brokenness, the weary world waiting to be redeemed.

Veni, Veni, Immanuel. Ransom not only our hearts, but all of creation. We look to You.

 

P.S. — My heart has been cheered lately by two beautiful responses to Newtown. I wanted to share them with you:

Comfort Dogs
26 Acts