The Shootings in Colorado

[Darris McNeely] Once again an unspeakable tragedy has occurred in Colorado. 70 people were injured, 12 were killed last week when a gunman opened fire in a crowded movie theater late one night. Ironically, this was just a few miles from another tragedy, Columbine High School, a few years ago where an even larger number of people were killed in another tragedy - a gunman opening fire in a high school situation. When these things happen we wonder why. There are so many questions that go through peoples' minds. It is a matter of unspeakable suffering. In this particular case, in Aurora, Colorado last week, we have once again now the story's coming out of acts of bravery where people threw themselves over the bodies of their girlfriends to take a bullet for them, to protect their lives. They died. Those that they covered lived. Scars are going to be formed that will take years and years to begin to heal and likely will never completely heal in this type of situation. Our hearts go out to people who are dealing with this, to the community, the families of all who have been affected.

[Steve Myers] It's hard to understand these kinds of situations, you know, when you see such senseless acts, you know, of violence that happen. And it begins to help us to realize, you know, we need to look somewhere else for encouragement and comfort. I mean, in a tragedy like this, where do you get comfort? Where do you get encouragement from? And it helps us to realize God is the God of comfort. You know, one of His names in the Old Testament is He's a God of healing. He's the God of healing. And God can comfort and encourage us. In fact, there's a wonderful passage in 2 Corinthians, right in the very first chapter. The Apostle Paul writes in verse 3, "Blessed be God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort" (2 Corinthians 1:3). And when we're faced with challenges like this, God can comfort us. In these senseless acts, God is the only one that can look down and give us that encouragement that we need. And so we pray for those families of the victims. We pray for those that have been affected by these awful tragedies. And we look to God to give us the comfort and the encouragement that we need.

[Darris McNeely] And we hope that you too will pray for the victims' families, for all who have been touched by this. And certainly pray even more fervently as we all do here on Beyond Today for the coming Kingdom of God and a world and a time when evil like this will not be able to march into any movie theater, into any classroom, or into any setting and commit such acts of atrocity. Only God's Kingdom ultimately can accomplish that, but until then we pray for God's grace and comfort on those who suffer.

[Steve Myers] That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.