Tags

, ,

Credit: Chrismons and Chrismon Patterns

Credit: Chrismons and Chrismon Patterns

The attack in Garissa University earlier this month left many of us that are affected directly or indirectly with many unanswered questions. There was much pain and heartache at different levels and for this my prayer for peace and strength goes to God especially for the families and friends of the victims.

One brother from SA asked me what I felt and could only say sadness and helplessness, but deep inside I knew that even if it felt like that, we were actually not helpless. It may look like that, but the reality is different.

The creator of the universe, the omnipresent God was present as it was happening, and He was almighty to stop it, but He did not. The very present help in time of need was right there as those perpetrators opened fire on those unarmed people. To understand the whys and the hows may not be as straight forward as we may want it, but there is an answer in God.

A christian ministry that I knew in Kenya when growing up had a radio program called, “Christ is the answer”, and I always wondered what the question was for Christ to be the answer. As I have grown to appreciate the splendor/wonder of God’s ways, I have come to conclude that Christ is not just the answer to the questions in the normal way of answering, He is the One God has given as the reference point or plumb-line for all accurate interpretation;

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)

He is the center of all things like the sun is the center of the solar system. His power is in His character which is Love. His arch enemy, the devil opposes everything that orients men and things to that center, and that is why the dear saints were attacked as they gathered to pray in the morning. What the gunmen did not realize, even as they killed the people is that their side had not won. What they did had been done before, to Christ Himself, and to many of His followers in different generations along history, and like it was written about those that crucified Him, we declare again:

“8 ..Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory..” (1Cor 2);

And like He said as He breathed His last, we join with other saints in one voice to say,

“Luke 23:34
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.”

“60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” (Acts 7);

…and just as the death of Jesus was followed by an explosion of the Christian faith…, the death of our brothers and sisters makes our resolve even stronger,” not to love our lives even unto death“…

I leave you with the following video to the ISIS which expresses the heart of the followers of Jesus in the face of persecution.

Love,
Patrick