Tragedy, Help & Joy

Good morning.

I love it when we're together, especially when we're worshiping.

I uh was wishing that uh we'd been together last week, at least me.

Um if you're here, you probably could tell that uh I got uh stomach bug on short notice, which meant uh Justin got an opportunity to share on short notice.

And um I called him about 9 30 because I was expecting to feel better and and let him know what was uh happening and said, Here, I'll send you my notes and you can look at what I was gonna talk about.

And he's like, Oh, that's okay.

I wasn't talking to junior high, and so I'll just maybe add a couple things.

And um, you know what a great uh day last Sunday was.

Not just that, but Christmas Angels and and uh worship and the new nursery vision and uh and all that.

So I'm just really thankful for them.

You know, God gives us each gifts, and the Bible also says that God gives us each of us as gifts, you know, and so Justin and Megan are definitely a gift to Susan and I and a gift to us all.

So come over here.

They deserve that.

And so one thing I was looking forward to last Sunday is uh Susan and I were gonna get to share a couple things together, but we're gonna make up for it and uh share uh a little bit um as we get started.

Um today I don't really have a message as much as uh us talking as a family about several things, but I do want to talk about uh that horrible tragedy um last Friday in Connect in Connecticut.

And we'll do that in a little bit.

But uh first, it's kind of hard to get off of that, but uh first a reminder about Christmas Eve.

Um we're gonna have a great uh time next uh Sunday and Monday together.

And um, you know, it's a little different this year.

We're doing pretty much a Christmas Eve service, if you will, on Sunday morning, and that time we'll have child care and and um a celebration in in his in uh his kids.

And then on Monday there won't be child care, but at four and six, uh, and Christmas Eve is just gonna be fantastic this year.

And one thing that we wanted to do and felt like we should do is uh just invite as many people as we possibly can.

And so we did a mailing um in this area to all the households uh around us.

There's a copy of that or one of those on each of the chairs, and so those are there.

Uh just so you might have someone that you would like to give that to and invite them to be with us.

There's be a bunch of them outside as we leave, and you can grab a whole stack if you wanted and take them to work or ask a restaurant if you can leave them there or whatever uh whatever seems best.

Um we've uh just updated our website, and you probably haven't seen that, but I think you're gonna like it.

It really does uh a great job of reflecting who we are and what God has us uh um doing together.

And part of that is there's a uh Christmas banner on the homepage, and if you click on that, it goes to more information.

And there are links where you can like it on Facebook, you can email it uh to friends as an invitation.

So maybe you can think of three or four uh people that you'd like to email and invite uh uh to be with us.

You know, one this wasn't the first reaction, but one reaction I had um to Friday was just a I guess maybe renewed urgency in helping people connect with God.

Um you know, life is hard with God.

It is.

I mean, there's things that that that are difficult to go through even with God, and I just don't know how anyone goes through life without God, especially uh in the in the worst of situations.

And so on Christmas Eve, we get to share, I think, with the community and and and bless the community, but we also get an opportunity to share about what God's really like, how he's not controlling, uh, how he's not about the rules, how he loves us and he wants deeply to have a relationship with us.

And hopefully, uh through that the Holy Spirit will connect some more people um with him.

Uh, two more things.

Last Sunday, Susan shared you know an exciting um new vision in our nursery.

And if you weren't here, you can listen to that.

Um the the first part of the message, if you will, um, which is now on the front of our homepage, it's also on Facebook, it's also uh a podcast on iTunes.

Um but the very first part Susan shares about this really extraordinary vision for the nursery.

Actually, the first thing she shares is wondering where Steve is, and that takes a couple minutes till they figure that out.

But uh but then uh I've done it.

I tried to hold back, but I just came out with something.

No, it was like Jessie lost up around like who's doing the message, me or you?

Because I was having a panic moment, you know, and he's like, me, I'm like, thank the Lord.

But uh sure said that he was doing the message.

Right.

The Falcons were out of town, so you knew I hadn't skipped out for the game.

But uh one of the things that Susan meant to share, and I guess she could now, but but was that um if you've already been helping in the nursery, God bless you, first of all, and thank you for that.

But also please sign up again because we're kind of started with a whole new system and a whole new schedule, and we don't want to miss anyone.

And so there'll be a sign-up table, and I'm sure Megan will be at it out in the lobby today.

So uh please sign up to help uh there.

Okay, I clarify something.

If you've signed up in the last two weeks, you don't need to, but but it even if you've helped for years in there, go ahead and sign up again if you haven't in the last two weeks so Megan can get to know you and all that kind of stuff.

Man, we're pretty good at this.

Um it's awkward, we know it's awkward.

Okay, so finally, one thing that's amazed me.

Every time we have an opportunity uh to help, the outpouring is really uh crazy.

And it could be you know big things like uh uh Christmas angels and the number of children we are able to help.

It could be uh big things like when renovating uh Nate Snow's house, it could be you know other projects, small, large, um, throughout the year.

But um when there's a need, it's just uh I guess so encouraging and and amazing how uh we step up and uh and meet that.

And helping others is definitely one of the things God has us uh together to do.

And for a few weeks we've been kind of talking about it's been seven years, and and we really feel just this excitement about even stepping more into what God uh has for us.

And so we think that it's it's time to really go hard for helping as many people as we can.

And so specifically, we're gonna we're gonna help three groups of people families who are hungry, women and girls who have a crisis pregnancy and their babies, and women and children who are scared of and oppressed by abusive men.

And we're gonna do this in a unique way uh that I think is gonna be exciting.

We're not gonna create an infrastructure, and we're not gonna create um our own ministries.

We're gonna partner with people who God has called uh to do these things and who have been doing these things.

And one thing that is for sure is we don't need our name on stuff, and we don't need credit for anything.

Um, we just have an opportunity to help as many people as uh we possibly can.

So, this is what we want to do is uh next year we want to share 15% of everything that we give together with three ministries, five percent with each of them.

Um we can also share our building at time, um we can share uh other resources, we can uh volunteer as God leads us to to help.

And what this will do is uh it allows us to do more than we could ever do.

I mean, the time and the money and lack of experience that it would take to start these things and try to do them ourselves when we can come alongside one who specifically has the passion and the and the calling.

Um, it'll we'll be able to do more with that money than we could ever do ourselves and help more people and um and it'll be fun and exciting uh as and encouraging for for it's hard work.

I mean, these types of things is hard work.

And for us to be able to step alongside uh these people, it's gonna be exciting, and more than anything, it's gonna make a huge, huge difference in um people's lives.

It also gives us relationships and resources to help people when they come to us in those situations.

And uh a lot of this God gave to Susan, so I know you want to talk in more specifics.

Well, I don't know that anybody's excited about what he just said, but I'm really, really as excited as I am about the garden, I'm excited about both.

And I wanted to just quickly, quickly, because I know Steve has an amazing message this week, since it was so amazing last week.

I know it's more amazing than this week.

So I'm gonna give him plenty of time, so I'm gonna talk really fast and get a lot of information because I want to share what, well, there Chris already has the three ministries that we're gonna be helping this year.

And I am so excited, and I do feel like this was God-led, like who they are and what they do.

And here's why I'm excited, because as I share these, you're gonna get you're gonna connect it to what we already do here at his hands.

I was talking to one of the directors of one of these, and I said, you know, we're established, his hands is established as a church, as a family.

We're established in what God told us to be established in, which is him and his love.

We're established in love.

And she said, You think you're just now established after almost seven years?

And I'm like, Yeah.

I think it took that long for us to figure out and get into God's vision for us.

I do.

And I think now he's saying, Okay, you're established in my love.

You know that I love you, all of you.

You know that I want you to love each other and pray for each other, encourage each other and help each other.

And I think we all get that for each other.

He's saying, now, step outside the walls into the community and show my love.

And so that's why I feel like he's saying, okay, you've you've matured, now we can do that as a group.

So I'm really excited about it.

But as I share with each of these groups who they are, what they do, and why they do it, I think you're gonna get, like I did, why he wants us to work with these groups because of who they are and what they do.

So here we go.

The first one is CFVC, and um, that is Cherokee Family Violence Center.

And the director is Beck Rogers, um, she's a lawyer, is her background.

They've been doing this since 1985.

See, they're established.

They know what they're doing, they know stuff.

They know stuff we don't know.

We have someone come in that's in an abusive situation, some of you may be in that situation, whether you're a man or a woman.

And here's the thing: they know how to help people, they have experience, they have legal counsel, they have um physical health that we don't know how to help.

So it's gonna be awesome.

Um, here's what they did.

They wrote, she wrote out what they do.

Provide services to victims of domestic violence and their children living in Cherokee County since 1985.

Our mission is to enhance the safety of victims of domestic violence and their children through services and legal advocacy.

These services include crisis intervention services such as a 12-bed emergency shelter, 24-hour English language and Spanish language hotlines, and emergency legal advocacy.

Longer-term education and support services such as a 72-unit transitional housing complex that these women and their children can live in for three years while they get their life in order.

Why they go back to school, it's awesome.

Um, they also have uh children's programs and domestic violence education and support for women who continue to stay in the relationship but they want to work it out.

Counseling for the men as well.

Here's why they do it.

You can probably guess some of the reasons.

Here's why they do it.

They believe in helping people in times of great crisis in the least stable time of their lives to help them to get things turned around to a stable place so they can have a great life with God and other people.

It's a pretty good reason, don't you think?

Okay, the Hope Center, what they do.

Yeah, okay, here it comes.

Yeah.

The Hope Center, it is a medical clinic specializing in pregnancy diagnosis and decision support.

Medical services include pregnancy testing, ultrasound, and STD testing.

Additional services include one-on-one mentoring intended to provide help, hope, and healing to individuals facing pregnancy or relationship issues, and a program called Earn Why You Learn that allows our clients to earn material resources available through the Hope Center's Baby and More thrift store, which is across the street.

Have you ever seen that?

So they can get cribs and all their baby stuff and all this kind of stuff.

Because the Hope Center is committed to both saving lives and nurturing families, our confidential services are provided free of charge through the second birthdays of our clients' children.

They help people that want to keep their child and there's nobody for them, and nobody can help them.

They hold their hand, they walk them through it, and they are there for them to help them be able to do it.

It's like a it's amazing.

Our desire is to see God's dreams fulfilled as the author and finisher of life and to encourage those who do not yet have a personal relationship with Jesus to receive him by faith and grow a relationship with him.

Okay, that's awesome.

Why do they do it?

You're gonna sense a theme here.

They believe in helping people in times of great crisis, in the least stable time of their lives, to help them to get things turned around to a stable place so they can have a great life with God and other people.

Woo!

Sorry, can't say he's amused, okay, because I get so excited.

Okay, Papa's pantry.

What they do, food assistance is provided to families throughout the entire period of time it takes to get back on their feet.

Not just one bag of food or two bags, the entire time it takes to get them on their feet.

In Georgia, one out of five families is now considered food insecure.

There is just not enough food in the household on a regular basis.

More and more families depend on the assistance of food pantries today.

Perishable and nutritious food items are often available, such as milk, milk, meat, and produce.

This is one of the many unique properties of the outreach that there's an emphasis on nutritious, fresh food, which you usually can't get with a food pantry.

Also offer life skills training at their facility called the Master's Training Center, where many classes and workshops are offered to individuals and families.

These include workshops on employment strategies, household money management, getting a GED, goal setting, time management, couponing, nutrition, organic gardening, computer skills, and Bible studies.

These programs are also offered to those who are not in need but want to get their life situation and financial situation in order.

Okay?

So they offer that to other people who just want to get a better hold on their situation.

Not only do families receive food and training assistance, they also have a place to come to be listened to, mentored, encouraged, and uplifted.

Basically, for someone to say, you do not suck, we're here to help you get in a great place.

Oh, sorry.

But you know what I'm saying, right?

Sometimes when you're down and out, people just make you feel worse.

They make you feel worse.

We need to be the ones who lift up and we help.

We help.

Yeah.

Okay.

Um this blend of practical assistance programs with the human relationship component is what makes Papa's Pantry's clients excel in achieving excellence.

Okay, and you're not going to be surprised when I'm about to say, why do they do it?

They believe in helping people in times of great crisis in the least stable time of their lives to help them to get things turned around to a stable place so they can have a great life with God and other people.

I think those are, I know, it's true.

Now, okay.

I'm pretty sure that's why we all get together every Sunday at some level, too, is because we want to be those people.

We want to be love.

We want to be love.

Just like mine is.

Alright, James 127 says, anyone who sets himself up as religious by talking a good game is self-deceit.

This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air.

Real religion, the kind that passes mustard before God the Father is this.

Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight.

God is good.

That's what He wants.

Another verse that says, pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

Isaiah 57 and 58, I shared this a few years ago.

So if you're not into the New Testament, ha ha ha ha, we're all into there.

But you know, if you want to go Old Testament, it's there too.

It's there too.

Isaiah 57 and 58 talks about people who are saying how spiritual and pious they are.

I'm almost done.

And this is what God says to them.

This is amazing.

He says to them, God says, Do you think this is the kind of fast day I'm after, a day to show off humility, to put on a pious blonde face and parade around solemnly in black?

That's boring and unfun.

Do you call that fasting a fast day that I, God, would like?

Here's what he says.

This is the kind of fast day I'm after.

To break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts.

Debt.

What I'm interested in seeing you do is this: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering, ill clad, being available to your own families.

Do this, and the lights will turn on and your lives will turn around at once.

Your righteousness will pave your way.

The God of glory will secure your passage.

Then when you pray, God will answer.

You'll call out for help and he'll say, Here I am.

If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people's sins, if you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down and out, your lives will begin to glow in the darkness.

Your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.

And I will always show you where to go.

I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places, firm muscles, strong bows.

You'll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry.

And you'll use, this is awesome, the old rubble of past lives.

The old rubble to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past, and you'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, and make the community livable again.

Who's in?

So we're getting an opportunity to help all three of these groups do what they already do well.

We're gonna be able to help them financially, like Steve said, starting in January.

Whatever is given, we're gonna give each of them 5%.

They're thrilled beyond words.

We're gonna host occasionally events in the building for them.

We'll give opportunities.

If anybody's passionate about any of these things, well, we'll let you know when they're having something, if you want to volunteer, because that's one of your passions to help hurting people.

And they are also super excited because of what we said earlier.

They're excited to help us.

When we have one of these three needs, or someone's in a situation, they are like, here, send them.

We want to help.

And so it's gonna be a win for them, it's a win for us, and I know in eternal things, it's a huge win.

It's eternal treasures in heaven, is what we're storing up.

So I know we're all excited to do this, and I I just thank you guys.

Thank you.

So you can see why Susan needed to announce that part.

Um when she's passionate, it shows, and uh she's passionate a lot, which is really cool.

Um, it does make me feel way too calm, but uh that's gonna be so exciting.

I mean, we're gonna be able to do so much um together.

And a couple weeks ago, talked about some short-term needs we have, and we've got some things we've got to fix and and do around uh the building, which makes it the perfect time for us to say, you know what?

Even so, we're gonna give and we're gonna help and we're gonna make a uh a difference together.

And so it's gonna be a great, we're gonna have a great 2013 um together.

All right, well, let's uh let's pray.

Father, we just praise you.

We thank you for uh for being so good to us, for adopting us into your very own uh family, as your kids.

Um, Father, I pray especially now, and we will again, but uh for the families and people in Connecticut.

And that is horrible tragedy.

Hard for us to imagine.

And just pray that you'll pour out your love and mercy and bless them and somehow turn some of that to good.

And show us how we can help if we can.

And Holy Spirit, thank you for being our teacher and counselor.

And please just teach us this morning, speak to each of us.

And so we can each leave knowing that I got something today that was especially for me.

And Jesus, we just praise you for being our friend, for being our example and our savior.

It's in your name we pray.

Amen.

So I part of me hated to like even bring it up again.

But Friday was just a heartbreaker and almost unimaginably sad to hear about the horrible killing of some adults, but I mean 20 little children.

And there was a large picture on the front page of the AJC yesterday.

I don't know if you saw it, but it's it's a distraught family hugging.

And the man is looking up to heaven, obviously asking why.

Why God, why?

And it was a moving picture, and to me it's an appropriate question.

It's a question I've asked myself at different times in my life.

There's been several times in the last 12 months that I've asked that same uh question.

I'm gonna share one of those.

It it in no way compares uh with anything that those families uh and people in Connecticut are going through.

But last June we uh took a vacation to Seaside, Florida, and we rented a house there.

And in the house next to us, there was a family that was from outside of uh Nashville, and uh their boys had just graduated from high school.

They went to a school uh for the deaf, and they'd brought along their best friend uh who had moved over from Africa with his mom, and the two of them lived outside Nashville, so this boy uh could attend um the school.

And so when we get to Seaside, uh we find out that Chris Tomlin's doing a small benefit concert uh there while we're there.

And so, if you don't know, he's written a lot of worship songs and and tremendous worship leader.

But uh and so we got tickets, and so the night of this worship concert, we go and it's raining really hard, and and they delay the start uh of it for an hour and a half.

And so we go back to um the house, and when we get there, there's an obvious commotion and and some sort of situation.

And and what it was is that the boy who had moved here from Africa with his mom had drowned.

And God put us right in the path of first the mom, and then both the mom and the dad that were renting that house.

And it was such a tough situation.

I mean, it was just so many emotions at once, you know, uh grief and guilt and confusion, and how do we tell um the boy's mom and what do we do, and all this happened happening at once.

And and I was thankful that God put us there because I think we were able to help some, and and we prayed with with them, which helped um some.

They ended up calling people from the church that his mom went to, and and they went and were with her.

Um but the grandparents came and then they hall had to go, and there was really nothing left for Susan and I to do, and so we went back to this worship concert, and it's just starting as we get there.

And and the first song is How Great Is Our God.

And I'm just having trouble getting into it.

You know, for one thing, I'm a little stunned.

For one thing, I'm very grieved about uh for the for the boy, and especially for his his mom.

And I'm also thinking, you know, God, how how could you let this happen?

And so I sort of decided to worship, but my heart wasn't really uh in it.

And as the night went on, I was thinking more about the situation than I was any of the songs that we were singing, but still the the Holy Spirit really spoke to my spirit as the night went.

And we get toward the end of the night, and um, and there's a song, this is June, and it's a Christmas song, and it's it's a rendition that he wrote of joy to the world.

And at the end, it talks about unspeakable joy.

And you know, by that point, although I was so distraught at the start, by that point, the Holy Spirit had spoken me to me in a way that I was able to have more of an eternal perspective, you know, and know that God was going to help this family in ways that I couldn't even think or imagine.

But more importantly, that his plan was in a real short time.

Life is so short, you know, I'm not that old yet, I'm 51, but I'm old enough that I know life's short.

Um, in a real short time, that boy and his mom are gonna be reunited forever in heaven without any fear anymore of loss or suffering or tragedy or pain.

And that is when we have unspeakable joy, which is true.

I believe God showed me something about himself, maybe starting that night, but especially last night, because I'm thinking some of the same things, you know, and processing some of the same thoughts.

And God created a world that he doesn't control.

Now I know we say God is in control, but he is and he isn't.

He controls the overall path of the world, you know, with a goal of everyone being saved.

You know, he says that he doesn't want anyone to perish, he wants everyone to be saved.

But day-to-day, he influences and he affects, and he does intervene sometimes when appropriate, when it helps towards, when it doesn't detract, I would say, from this overall path.

But he doesn't control.

See, people have free will, our decisions matter.

Why did he create the world that way?

You know, I was thinking that yesterday.

Okay, I know everybody has choices, but why?

Why does it have to be this way that allows tragedies and massacres and horrible things like Friday to happen?

And this is the part that I feel he he showed me, and that is that in a way he didn't have a choice.

You know, it's like God didn't have a choice.

Of course he has a choice.

Uh he's God.

That's true, but it's also not true.

For instance, the Bible says that God cannot lie.

And so he doesn't choose not to lie.

There's something in his nature, his very being, that will not allow God to lie.

He doesn't have a choice.

And there's something in God's nature and very being, the way he is, that is not controlling.

Before the creation of the world, God would not control.

The Bible says that Satan led a rebellion of a third of the angels, and God let them go.

Now, the reason God cannot just choose to control is because the other part of his very nature, of his very being, and that is his desire for intimate and loving relationship.

He is not about rules and control, he is about relationship.

He knew we would have to have free will and have free choice to have the relationship he desires with us.

He also knew the cost, which would be great, including his own son.

The people, given the choice, would make the choice to murder his very own son.

But it was worth it.

It was worth it to him, it was worth it to Jesus himself because they love us.

And what they want is an all-encompassing, life-changing relationship with us.

Control or real relationship.

It is impossible to have both.

You cannot have both.

I mean, there might be some couples here this morning where, or you know of a couple, where one of the two is very controlling.

It is impossible to have an intimate relationship where there's love and trust when one person is very controlling.

Now, if you're here and if that person is you, I can talk about that because that person was me.

You know, and it took counseling and it took prayer and it took God to change that in me.

But it's worth it.

It would be worth it.

It's worth it because without that, Susan, I could never have the relationship I wanted and the relationship that we wanted.

And if you're in that situation, it's probably for sure, you know, because you were abused or abandoned or controlled severely yourself.

But you just gotta get help and ask God to help you.

And then you can have the relationship of trust and love and intimacy that is what you really want.

Our Abba Father, our daddy father, will not control us.

He will not.

I might say he cannot, because it's not in his nature.

And so he chooses the better thing: forgiveness and redemption and comfort and eternal life.

He chooses taking the worst of situations and making good come out of them.

So much so that it changes people and eventually even changes the world.

So now's not the time to really try and imagine it, but something will come out of the horrifying day on Friday.

You know, something that'll spark change in thinking or in systems or in something that will save even more little kids.

But the reason God chose to create a world with free will and choice and all the risk and all the pain and all the suffering is because it's not in his nature to control.

It hasn't been since the beginning of the world.

It's not now.

He himself risks everything in hopes of a real relationship.

Now, the mystery, I think, is that, to me at least, is that sometimes God does.

I would say many times God intervenes dramatically in our life.

You know, why is that?

When can he do that?

When not, that I don't know.

Yeah, I don't think I'm ever going to know that until heaven.

I know that John 1 says that Jesus is the light that shines into the darkness.

And I also know that his love keeps pushing, push, pushing, and pushing more darkness out of our world.

But obviously it's still there.

And I do know that the reason that we're all so heartbroken when we hear of a tragedy, like this one especially, is because we're created in the image of God.

He's heartbroken.

You know, God loves children.

Christmas is a celebration of a child, Jesus.

I was thinking last week about some of the most impactful people in the Bible, like uh Jacob, who's the grandson of Abraham, and how God could have told his story with him wrestling the angel, and then God changing his name to Israel.

But instead, God chose to tell his story the first time he wrestled, which was before he was even born.

It was him in the womb wrestling his brother Esau.

He had a son Joseph.

His story could have started when he was in jail, or it could have started when he was second in command of Pharaoh, but God told his story from when he was a child, from a little boy who his dad loves.

Moses.

I mean, that story started at the burning bush, if you will, could have.

God told his story from when he was a newborn baby, with Miriam putting him in a basket and floating him down the river.

There's Samuel, who was the first prophet over Israel.

God told his story from when his mom Hannah was praying for a child.

And then had Samuel and dedicated him to God.

Samson, who was Rambo of his day, you know, could have started anywhere.

But God told his story from when he was a baby.

God tells, chose to tell all these stories when each of them was just a baby.

Children are so important to God.

That's why it means so much when he calls us his children.

But the child Jesus, he grew up to be a man, and the Bible says that he is the exact representation of God the Father.

Ken spoke a few weeks ago, and he talked about the time Jesus was angry, and he was angry because uh the Pharisees were more worried about rules and religion about this man who had a deformed hand that Jesus wanted to heal.

But but there was another time that Jesus was angry, and it was when people didn't value children.

Mark 10 it says, one day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them.

But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.

When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples, he said to them, Let the children come to me.

Don't stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.

I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn't receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.

Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.

The reason we're heartbroken over such a tragedy involving children is because we're created in the image of God.

And so our opportunity is not to understand everything and maybe figure it all out, it's to ask ourselves, how can we help God in turning bad into good?

And I don't know, obviously, all the answers to that, but I have a few thoughts.

One is that, as I'm sure we did already, is we can take time, you know, we can stop, take time to hold and love our children, you know, and our grandchildren, and our best friends' children.

You know, I mean they're precious, and each moment with them is precious.

We can make sure we do everything to keep each other and especially our kids safe.

Now you uh probably noticed we have a uniformed police officer here uh every Sunday, and they are all great.

I mean, just great.

And they're not here because there's any problem, they're here to make sure we don't have any problems.

And you and you might not know that we've got a security team every Sunday, again for the same reason.

And that team and our officer rotates in and out of uh the nursery in the his kids area.

But you know, today and from now on, we're gonna have someone there every minute, all the time, and that person will be equipped and trained to handle any situation that could uh possibly arise.

And again, in seven years, we've had a few little things, but we've never had any uh real situation.

Um but we can do everything we can to make sure nothing ever happens.

You know, we're gonna pray for the children and parents and people in Newton, but going there probably isn't gonna help because there's already such an outpouring of overwhelming help there.

But what we can do is what Susan talked about, and help the our own people in our own community that are going through tragedies of their own right now.

We can help them through tragedy, we can even help prevent tragedy.

I know that's part of the reason that God's brought us together and made us a family because we get so much joy when we do it together.

God loves and cares for children.

God begins his stories with children.

You know, there was a time that the disciples were arguing about who was most important, and this was Jesus' response.

Then he put a little child among them.

Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me, but also my father who sent me.

And so that question, you know, where was God on Friday?

Probably weeping, because he loves those kids and he knows more than anyone what it feels like to have your child murdered.

Now, this is a little intense, but in Hebrews 4, it says, Now that we know what we have, Jesus, this great high priest with ready access to God, let's not let it slip through our fingers.

We don't have a priest who's out of touch with our reality.

He's been through weakness and testing, experienced it all, all but the sin.

So let's walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give.

Take the mercy, accept the help.

Jesus himself experienced it all, including the worst of all.

You know, Jesus had a loved one who was murdered, John the Baptist.

He's experienced that.

He knows what that's like.

He himself experienced being killed.

He knows what that's like.

He knows what to do.

He knows how to give mercy.

He knows how to help.

Justin emailed me last night about an interview he saw with one of the dads whose little girl was killed.

And the dad said he knows God has given all of us the ability to choose what to do, and that this young man made a terrible choice that has hurt him deeply.

He said that he isn't mad at God, and he knows God has given him the choice to handle the situation in a way that can help he and the rest of his family.

I honestly don't know if I could have got there that fast.

But it is an example of what Jesus can do and how he can give mercy and how he can give help.

And he'll do that, but not only that, he'll make sure that unimaginable good comes out of the horror.

And he will also reconnect those parents with their children in heaven.

He grieves for them now.

We do too, but we can make good come out of the situation as well.

We can stop whatever we're doing.

Make sure we never forget to love on our beautiful kids and grandkids and kids all around us.

We can make sure we do everything we can to keep them safe.

We can help those around us now who are enduring their own tragedy.

You know, and personally, I'm going to thank God for not being controlling.

Knowing that a real relationship with him, it's worth the risk.

It's worth pain.

It's worth suffering.

Because he's going to make it right through eternity.

And so we'll stop there if the worship team will come up.

And I think today they actually are going to come up.

And if you can, if you can stay through this last song, because it really, I know some of us probably want to go grab our kids, which is good.

But this last song really is the end of what I wanted to share today.

And so we'll stand and let's get ready for that.

So in Seaside, I'm in no frame of mind, I guess, to worship.

But it's a Christmas song in June.

And I just thank God for the way He is, for providing us a place in eternity where we don't have to fear any loss, where we'll always be with our friends and our loved ones and our God, with Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

And that is an unspeakable joy.

You know, God wants a relationship with us so much, that's why it's so easy to connect with Him.

That's why there aren't all this stuff and control and rules and all this.

You know, the way we connect with God is simple.

It is like a child, like Jesus said.

It's in our own words, just in our own way.

You know, I need you.

Help me, save me.

In my situation, it was, Jesus, if you're real, I need your help.

And that little bit of faith was enough.

You know, we are created in the image of God.

And he's created us with the Spirit, like God.

So when we put our trust in Him, however we do it, however we say it, that Spirit comes alive.

You know, and then He starts speaking to us and teaching us and changing us and loving us and He changes from the inside out.

I'm so glad that we're together.

It just feels like a family.

And we're going to go through a lot of good times together, and we're going to get through some bad times together.

But we'll do it with each other.

Let's pray.

Father, I thank you for being such a good God.

And again, we just ask you to pour out all your love and mercy and help and comfort those families in Connecticut.

That you would love them and hold them and help them and even make good come out of such a horrible situation.

And I do thank you for caring so much and want a relationship with us that you would not control us, but let us make choices, even when those choices turn out bad.

I mostly thank you, God, for knowing that eventually you're going to make everything turn out good.

And that we'll be together with each other, with you, with our loved ones forever in heaven, in joy.

And Jesus, thank you for be willing to do so much for that and to love us.

We trust you, and it's in your name we pray.

Amen.