My Past Weak

 "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” John 10:28-30

This blog is a long time coming (at least a few days). I have recently started back full time at Forest Highlands Golf Club (FH). A private, seasonal community of two top golf courses in the state and nation. I work as a Recreation Supervisor in a recreation department that oversees every recreational activitiy for every age group as well as two pools, four parks, a fitness center and classes and a poolside snack bar amongst a plethora of other small things. Because of our seasonal nature, we gear up for a chaotic few summer months during this time of the year. I have been doing this work for seven of the last eight years of my life and mostly enjoy it. I also am a youth leader at Peace Lutheran Church as another part time gig that I have been doing for the past four years. 

As a part time youth leader that is year round, I only work 10-15 hours per week. When I started back full time at FH, my hours per week went from 10-15 to 50-55 over seven days per week. Needless to say, it is taking some getting used to again. Hence, the lack of blog posting this past week despite a huge amount of things to write about.

I decided that instead of writing separately about each event that happened this week, I would try to sum it all up in a general posting about my thoughts.

Cassie alerted me to the Boston bombings on Monday soon after they began reporting and I have been glued to the TV all week. When the fertilizer plant in Texas exploded, that added to my perceived necessity to stay in contact with all breaking news every moment of every day. I could say that it is not good for us, as humans, to stay so connected to all forms of media when bad things (or good, for that matter) occur in our world. But, I'm not going to say that because I truly believe the opposite. 

We witnessed a brand new form of crime fighting this week. We saw "crowd fighting." (I am trademarking that phrase, so don't try to steal it *wink*) What do I mean by that? I mean we saw people come together through photos, videos, twitter, facebook, etc. to stop those individuals who are to blame for so much destruction this week. It was similar to crowd sourcing or crowd funding in that people, mostly unknown to each other, come together to help promote or fund a cause. The police used the public and the availability of cameras in phones, video, tweets, and social media to track down the suspects.

It seemed like a brand new way of crime fighting that I have never seen before. Sure, police have used the public's help in the past, but certainly not to the extent that we saw last week.

We realized that despite the evil of a few individuals, human nature is still inherently good. Through tragedy, we see the resiliency and love for our fellow man rise to the top of all other emotion. 

President Obama stated this week in his address after the capture of the remaining suspect, "The world has witnessed one sure and steadfast truth: Americans refuse to be terrorized." And I would like to broaden that to "Humans refuse to be terrorized."

I obviously chose this quote because of Obama's use of "Sure and Steadfast" and the relation to my blog. It rings just as much truth in his quote as it does in the bible. "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, sure and steadfast." Hebrews 6:19

Those words mean that this truth, this hope that we have is unwavering, will be there forever, cannot be shaken. And we can debate the words of Obama, we cannot debate the words of God and the hope he has given us. That hope is exactly why we can still believe in the good in every human people being more powerful and resilient than a few of God's children choosing the wrong path.

Boston

^"21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."
- 1 Corinthians 12: 21-27


What can I say that hasn't already been said about the Boston tragedy?

Not a lot.

I can say that the Boston marathon is one of the largest marathons in the world and you don't need to be a runner to have known someone affected by the events today. I had friends and acquaintances and fellow Flagstaffians running and cheering and my heart goes out to them. They are all safe, but to experience such a terrible tragedy will stick with them the rest of their lives.

We are the body of Christ and when one part suffers, every part suffers with it. We are all suffering together and it is these times when we are truly one body. 

I pray for the families, runners, friends, children, medical workers, and anyone else in Boston who are now on the path of recovery, whether physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. I pray for the individual(s) who committed this chaos. I pray that they find peace and judgement. I pray for healing. Amen.