Praying: Before & After

I like everyone in the US spent sometime this weekend discussing the events in at Sandy Hook Elementary this weekend.
We don't have broadcast TV or cable so I just kept up with the story online and my kids heard very little. I did take some time out to talk with them before school today about what they might hear and field any questions they might have.

When anything like this happens a sure bet is that crazy stories or ideas will immediately begin to fly around as though they were the pure truth and must be repeated. I know my kids will hear some of that and I wanted to arm them with healthy skepticism and let them know Mom would be happy to talk with them about anything they hear.

I personally am still numb about it all, because it hardly seems real.
Maybe I don't want it to be real.

My husband said he teared up when he heard the news. He wanted to see our kids.
I did not cry a single tear. I felt perfectly secure that my kids were safe at school. Denial? maybe.

My first feeling was anger.
I am definitely more of an anger person.
I totally understand the instinct to blame.
I understand the search that immediately begins after some tragedy to find the person or persons who could have prevented this.

I thought about that this weekend. I read and heard the angles.
"Gun Control is the problem"
"Evil is the problem not guns"
"Lack of God in our culture is our problem"
"Bad parenting"
"Inadequate mental health care"
"Inadequate school security"
etc....

I really did not think I had anything constructive to add to this discussion so I just prayed this morning.
Then and idea struck me so convicting I knew it had to be God.
What if I was the problem?
What if it was people like me?
People who see or knew the kid who never fit in.
The too quiet kid, the not easy to befriend kid, the mentally ill kid, the kid who did not get what he needed at home, etc...
The people who knew that kid or kids, who knew God was their only hope and who never prayed for them.
Maybe we are the ones who dropped the ball.

Even as I sit here now, I can picture two, no wait, four boys who would fit into one of those groups. Do I pray for them daily? No.
Do I work to befriend them or their families? One family I do but not the others.

Here is the blinding truth that God put on my heart:
Satan can over come gun control, time spent in Church, good parenting, medication, friends, or any other fix we try to use EXCEPT..... GOD HIMSELF.

Sometimes what an Adam Lanza needs is a miracle and only a miracle.
Sometimes what we who call ourselves "Christian" need to do is to pray before the tragedy not just after.
Ask God to put someone on your heart who needs a miracle, then pray every day for that person. The unreachable, the truly troubled, the one lost in the shuffle, etc....
Yes, act to show love and kindness but more importantly pray, pray, pray.

The only sure way of defeating Satan is the pleading of the Holy Spirit from the mouth of the child of God.

As we truly should be praying for the families After this tragedy also let us begin to be more faithful to pray Before such can occur.

James 5:16 The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.