The Virginia Tech shootings

We have all heard the news reports of the shocking and deadly massacre at Virginia Tech. As a Nation I think that our collective consciousness has been stunned. I keep waiting to hear news reports about the discovery of a second shooter because I don't want to believe that one individual could be filled with such an intense and calculated hatred but as the days pass by the certainty of that becomes more evident.

This tragedy has touched me on many levels. As a Minister, I feel for other Ministers that will be conducting Funeral services for 30 plus families that will never be able to make sense of this. As a member of the human race I feel for those families, faculty and fellow students that will have to deal with this for the rest of their lives. As a Father I am becoming scared of the world that I will eventually send my Son out into.

While the events of this week will affect all of us in different ways there is one thing that has really shaken me. The thing that has strongly stood out in a lesser way is how unshocking this originally seemed. It is the reality that we are now living in a day and age where school shootings are becoming less shocking and more "normal" with each passing year. While ANY loss of life is a tragedy, I think the thing that has shocked us the most, in this shooting, is the quantity of the lives that were taken.

Battlegounds are supposed to be on distant shores, where young men give their lives for the honorable cause of Freedom. Yet the reality that we face today is that any place can be a battleground and we are slowly becoming accustomed to it. We've lost something in our Society and I pray that as a Nation we take it back before the events of this week truly become normal.

My heart and prayers go out to the Virginia tech family and all of the families that suffered this senseless waste. May God be with you in the coming days.