Imagine you are just enjoying the music. You’ve been having a great day enjoying the sun and food. Laughing and dancing. It’s a safe place to escape from reality and just have fun. Then suddenly the day is shattered by the sounds of bullets being sprayed all over the crowds of people who, just like you, were out to enjoy the show. No one knew who was going to be hit. Each bullet hitting people at random. When it ended the area was filled with the carnage of someone else’s selfish insane act.

They were all caught, unaware, that they were in danger. Are we all in danger at any given moment? What about the silent bullets that are shot at us? Bullets that cause death and destruction just like the bullets fired on that horrible day. They bring a maelstrom of carnage to your life. Leaving us wounded and bleeding. Sometimes it brings death to our doors. There are so many ways the attack can come. An illness, a car accident, natural disasters, and a million other ways.

I spent most of the week contemplating how to handle all the loss felt by each person there. Those that lost their loved one as well as all those who realized their safety is just an illusion. That at any given moment we are vulnerable. The Bible tells us we have an enemy who’s only goal is to kill, steal, and destroy us (John 10:10). It’s enough to make you hide away from the world.

What I need to know is the second half of that verse. It goes on to say Jesus has come so that we can have life and have it more abundantly.  Of course bad things happen to those who believe in Jesus. We still get ill, lose loved ones, and die. What the difference is the power to continue in faith, to know who has me in His hands. I need to  know the power of God who gives me strength that I can’t comprehend. The ability to forgive the unforgivable.

I hope those whose lives were changed in Las Vegas will find a way to find Jesus in the midst of the grief, anger, and pain that is left over. I pray they can live each day in faith. Faith that gives them hope for a better day. I pray that I can let my children leave my sight and go boldly into a concert hall the day after this happened. Yes, my daughter’s went to Cold Play the day after the shooting. I’ve got to tell you it scared me but I prayed and asked that God’s will be done. They were given set days to be on this earth. I want them to live it boldly and without fear so they truly live. I don’t want to know the pain of losing one of them but I can’t lock them away and keep them in a bubble.

Lately the news has been so negative and full of conflict that we forget that people are basically good. This shooting gave a glimpse into the heart of so many. We saw a man with an evil, broken, diseased mind and heart but more importantly we saw all the people who gave of themselves. The people who aided those who were injured. The men who shielded others with their own bodies. Those who threw wounded people over their shoulders and ran them to safety. It started even before the shooting when a shirtless cowboy danced with a young woman who’d had the worst year of her life filled with hospitals and chemo.

We need to keep in mind that the life we have can bring joy to others or cause injury to others. We can run and cower when the bullets come or we could know Jesus who holds all our days and whose goal is to give us an abundant life.