For Marian Fisher

The news today reported that one of the little girls in the slaughter that took place at an Amish schoolhouse a few days ago asked to be shot first. Marian Fisher made an effort to save the younger girls by offering herself first. She was 13 years old. Her little 11-year old sister Barbie offered herself next and, by God’s grace, survived to tell the tale.

There are times when I am ashamed of being a human being. When I first heard about the monstrous evil that one demented man inflicted on such a peaceful community it grieved me to be a part of a race that could conceive of murdering it’s own children.

The fact is that we all draw from the same well that is human nature. If we can conceive of a thing, either good or evil, someone somewhere has done it, is doing it or will do it. That we can conceive of it means it is not foreign to us. This is both a blessing and a curse. We can understand the hopes and the dreams of other human beings because we all draw on the same nature. We can understand their thought processes. It’s a blessing because it can give us empathy. We can know what it’s like to be in another person’s shoes. It’s a curse, too, because it means that the evil that was / is in their hearts is also a part of us… We are all in this together.

While I am sometimes disheartened by the darkness that is in human hearts, I am also uplifted by the love and the courage that human hearts are capable of. This little girl, who never got a chance to live, showed such love and such courage that it leaves me in awe. Inside this little girl was true nobility. Inside that little chest beat the heart of a lion!

I am also in awe of the forgiveness that the Amish people have shown. They have consigned themselves to the will of God and are content to turn all over to Him. I can’t say I’ve ever met an Amish person, or even seen one in the flesh, but I am moved by their light to the world. That’s one good thing that’s already come from this.

I know that some goodness will come from this and touch other lives too. I know that little Marian and the girls that died with her are asleep awaiting the return of Jesus the Christ. They will be awakened one day to everlasting life. In that day our very nature will be changed and the darkness in the human heart will be banished forever by the light of God. The suffering of Marian and her schoolmates is over. For now I pray for God to heal the broken hearts left behind.

Marian Fisher is a name that will be remembered long after the name of the man who butchered her is forgotten. This little girl will be a jewel in the crown of God one day. Of that I have no doubt.

Sin and Christs' Sacrifice

We, Christians, should be ashamed of ourselves. Instead of pointing our fingers at the splinters in the eyes of other people we should be concerned with the beams in our own eyes.

The Bible wasn’t revealed to us for us to tell other people how to live…it was written to us to tell us how to live. We, collectively, believe that Christ died for us to pay the penalty for our sins. He did so with His life’s blood. Too many of us accept that sacrifice and continue to live in sin like we now have a license to do so.

Imagine for a moment that you owed a credit card debt of thousands of dollars. If someone stepped in and offered to pay off your debt and bring your balance back to zero…would you continue to rack up more debt on your credit cards because you knew you had a benefactor to square the debt? Most of us wouldn’t. We would understand the value of what had been done for us and we would endeavor to not go into such debt again.

Too many Christians treat the debt that Christ paid for us like it’s a get-out-of-jail-free card and continue to, not just live in sin, but embrace it! There are stories of ministers, those who believe that they are doing God’s work, that have somehow come to believe they are exempt from obeying God because they are so useful to Him? What a distortion of the Gospel!

Too many Christians, or at least those claiming the title, are busy condemning other people…not just their sins. They have set themselves up as judges over their fellow man. Instead of using Gods word to make themselves better people…they have used it to bring more evil into the world. Instead of using their energies to be a light to the world they add to the darkness. Not ONE of them lives a life without sin. Not ONE of them. They have used the Gospel of Christ to do evil. That is an abomination!

The way Christians are supposed to influence the world is by the example of their lives…not by picketing, or blowing up abortion clinics or bringing shame to the name of God. We are called to a better way. By obeying Gods word in our own lives we publish the Gospel in a more significant way than through anything we say or write. We have forgotten that…

Most Christians don’t even look to the scriptures to come to a better understanding of what sin is and how to live to please God. Our faith doesn’t end with accepting Christ as our sacrifice… we have to then act on our faith to keep it alive; to allow it to grow.

We have turned the sacrifice of our savior into a joke by our behavior. It is no wonder the world is so skeptical of the message of Christ. They see the followers of Christ acting no differently than anyone else, so why should they embrace it?

We need to remember the very first words of Christ’s ministry…Repent (return to obediance), for the Kingdom of God is at hand. That was written to us…not for us to hit others over the head with!

What has happened to us?

October 2, 2006 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

A man walked into a one-room Amish schoolhouse with 27 students. He allowed the boys and adults to leave and kept the little girls, ages six to thirteen, hostage. When surrounded by police he murdered five young Amish girls and wounded five more by attempting to shoot them all in the backs of their heads...execution style.

...He put a gun to the back of the heads of little girls and attempted to murder them all...

This was a story that came and went in the news for most of us. It didn’t affect us so we paid little attention to it. The children of ten families attended that school, seven of them had daughters that were murdered or wounded in this evil, senseless attack.

The tranquility of one of the most peaceful, non-violent, communities on earth was shaken to its core for no reason other than the demented machinations of one man.

There was a time when the entire nation would have mourned for the loss of these families. That time is no more. The land is full of senseless, bloody crimes these days. We hear about them while having our morning coffee or while sitting down to dinner. Many of us then change the channel to listen to the latest sports scores or some other distraction.

The Amish have already forgiven this man and reached out to his family. They've set us an example of how Christians are supposed to be a light to the world. It's an example our world needs more than ever. We are surely cloaked in darkness. Dear God, how have our hearts become so hardened?