Like many of you I've been thinking about the recent events in Boston. Here are a few things that have stood out to me.
Once again we are reminded of evil. Here, some people expected an enjoyable day watching a popular footrace. Maybe some of them had plans for a fun dinner afterwards. And then a bomb goes of and life is never the same. Evil. It is a part of every day of our lives. Those who are wise understand this.
This event exposes the all too common lie that we control our fate. We certainly can make our plans, but who knows what, in fact, will happen. Some of the most significant turning points in our lives were events that we did not choose. The course of our lives is out of our control. And there are only two responses that make sense in light of that clear fact: utter despair or trusting Jesus who controls everything.
I stumbled upon a video of the shootout between law enforcement and the two suspects last night. I couldn't see much except some distant red and blue lights flashing from the police cars. But I could hear lots. And what I heard was many, many bullets being fired. Many. And I thought of how privileged we are to still have people willing to risk their lives to protect the rest of us - and sometimes at great cost.