This
past Saturday I was confronted with the question, “Where was God during the Sandy Hook massacre?” I perceived this to be a
legitimate, honest question and I understood the need to know, but more importantly,
God understands one’s need to know. As I pondered the question, I had an
epiphany: God was present in a very powerful and profound way and here's how He showed up...
God
created us with what is known as “free will;” or the freedom to choose; or in
the words of the great theologian, Jonathan Edwards, “that by
which the mind chooses any thing.”
At
any given moment, in any given situation, we are faced with choices some minor
and seemingly insignificant (should I have broccoli or carrots for dinner) and
some more weighty and/or profound (should I run or should I attempt to protect
the children from a deranged killer)~~ regardless, God will never usurp our
freedom to choose.
A
lone gunman chose to force his way into an elementary school and perpetrate
unimaginable evil upon the precious children and staff of Sandy
Hook ; a choice that carried with it horrific consequences.
So
where was God when this murderer rampaged through Sandy Hook?
God
has chosen to bring about His will and His ways through human beings. While he
will not usurp the free will of a human being, He will most certainly work
through those who are willing to choose His ways.
“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's
life for his friends” (John 15:13).
This
is the highest form of love, what the Bible calls, “agape” (Greek) or
unconditional love. This is a form of love that comes directly from the heart
of God.
Faced
with a murderous lunatic, we now know that at least four women at Sandy Hook chose that path of “agape” or unconditional
love.
It
is precisely this love that was demonstrated by Sandy Hook Elementary first
grade teacher, Vicki Soto, when she placed herself between the crazed shooter
and the children in her classroom, sacrificing her life in hopes the lives of
the little ones would be spared.
It
is this love that caused Principal Dawn Hocksprung to lunge at the deranged
shooter, hoping to prevent him from reaching her students; instead, it was her
life that was lost.
It
was this unconditional love that motivated first grade teacher, Kaitlin Roig,
to place the safety and the well being of her students first, herding them into
a closet, calming them, comforting them, and soothing them with “I love yous.”
It
was the unconditional love of the unnamed teacher who pulled an eight year old
boy into her classroom when she heard bullets splintering through the hallway.
If
there had been roomfuls after roomfuls of Vicki Sotos, Dawn Hocksprungs, and
Kaitlin Roigs, maybe not one of those little ones would have been lost, that we
will never know. But what we do know is that the selfless acts of these women
helped preserve lives…and those selfless acts will stand as a testament and a monument
to the agape or unconditional love of God.
It
is in these acts, motivated by unconditional love, that we are assured that God
was present.
