Universal Pain by K. Denise Holmberg

Orlando, Florida
Like me, you’ve probably shed too many tears watching the evening news.
Only a month ago Orlando, Florida was drenched in blood. Yet, it was pushed far back in the news with gunshots, screams, and explosions shattering the mundane act of checking-in for a flight at Istanbul Ataturk Airport, Turkey.
Turkish Flag

That has just as soon been forgotten as a large truck plows through a holiday crowd in Nice, France inflicting more senseless slaughter.
These random acts of violence create loss for all of us, regardless if we personally know the name of someone murdered or maimed. We suffer the loss of peace and a sense of security.
We wonder if we can dance the night away in a nightclub, go to the airport, or watch fireworks with our children without ending up in a body bag.
Some call that the purpose of radical Islam.
I call it pure evil.
So what do we do with this universal pain? 
My knee-jerk reaction is to inflict the same pain on my “enemies.” Let fire and brimstone rain on them from the heavens!
But that reveals something in my innermost nature: a need to blame someone else for my pain, and to create victims instead of being one.
But this only prolongs the problem and the pain.

Christ Crucified 
Is it possible to be victim and victorious at the same time?
Jesus showed us it is.
He was without a doubt an innocent victim, nailed to a cross, and left to suffer and die an unimaginable death.

Yet, there is no record that he called for his followers to seek revenge. 
He displayed no bitterness, hatred, or rage.
He didn’t ask for the wrath of God to rain down on us.
Instead he said, “Father, forgive them.”
Richard Rohr said that (at the cross) “an utterly new attitude (Spirit) was released in history; a spirit of love, compassion, and forgiveness.”
That is what radical Christianity looks like.
So let’s be victorious!
Claim the hope of the gospel.
Live full lives in the security of the promises of God.
And glow with the peace of his love in our hearts.
Remove the fear. Rekindle the hope of the gospel. Realize God’s love.
Pray for all the victims and their families, because we are not helpless, we are heard in the heavenlies!
Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer. (Romans 12:12)
Denise
More Hope:
And you shall be secure, because there is hope; yes, you shall dig about you, and you shall take your rest in safety. Job 11:18

Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all you that hope in the LORD. Psalms 31:24

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, said the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you a future and hope. Jeremiah 29:11

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

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