Chibok, Ukraine, Syria, and now?
Orlando.
God have mercy.
As innocents die for no reason, a number of people are running around wailing about the end of the world, and how mankind is at a new level of horrible.
How society has gone the way of sin and depravity and woe is us and it's all the Liberals/Tories/Democrats/Republicans/Lack of prayer in schools/white people/black people/conquistadors/immigrant's fault.
Here's the thing, there is no good country. No good culture.
We all rise.
We all fall.
We all, at some point, drop what we know to be right and hang tight to what is safe.
Very few of us are purely innocent.
And, thank the Lord, very few of us are purely evil.
It has been this way since God locked the garden gate.
How miserable the sound of that latch must have been, echoing across time like a rickety gavel.
But, even outside the garden, God still calls us to love our neighbours. No matter how they dress, who they kiss, where they came from, or what hue their skin is.
He said to love our neighbours, not our favourites.
Yes, it's quite easy to love people just like us. But that wasn't the point. That will never be the point.
Yes, there will be judgmental, cold-hearted people who stand up and have the nerve to say those people in that club were killed because of their lifestyle. And for the record? When did Jesus say it was okay to judge a dead or dying man?
Noooo, they died because a psychotic murderer chose to pull the trigger.
They died because sin won over good in a man's heart and he chose to kill.
But think about it, 50 families are without a loved one. 50 families had no chance to say goodbye. 50 families are in agony.
And the death toll will probably rise.
Love and kindness do not choose colour, or culture.
Hatred does.
Hatred hunts, stalks, ponders, plans and takes. Without mercy.
Hatred burns Yazidi girls alive.
Hatred opens fire on refugees.
Hatred drowns children in the sea.
Hatred kills men because they are gay.
Hatred lies in wait for love, ready to slit its throat and watch it bleed out.
Love knew what men are capable of...
Love went to His cross anyway.