This past weekend, the discovery of the remains of 215 children found in Kamloops, BC, hit the news and shocked everyone. We all are grieving over it.
The other day, my son came home and told us a story about 2 dogs that got run over by a truck and died. He was devastated. He had this question mark stamped on his eyes: Why would God allow these dogs to die such brutal death?
Without saying a word or asking anything, he just started crying. At such young age, he already knows that life is precious and sacred.
All lives.
Especially human beings created in God’s image.
I told Thomas that death was never part of God’s plan. When God created everything, death was not a part of that. Death is a foreign virus in our lives. And by now, we all know very well what a virus is and can do, right?
This sad news is like a “new” virus. The nation is in shock over this “foreign element” – that no matter how used we get to seeing people passing, death still stings, particularly in such circumstances and conditions involving these 215 children.
Right now, I am standing at a school playground, where kids are expected to play and have fun and enjoy life.
As Christians, we won’t always have all the answers… so we mourn… we grieve, we hurt, we suffer as a nation over this historical tragedy and stain in our Canadian history. And we trust that God hates death, and He hates it so much that He did something about it.
First, God told us that death is the wages for our sin and rebellion. So, every time we face death, this is a reminder of our rebellion and sin against God.
Second, God killed death when Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, became sin for us, absorbing the wages of sin once and for all. He rose again, securing our hope that death is killed. And one day, it will be banished for good.
For now, I want to encourage all men to pray.
- Pray for our nation.
- Pray for the First Nations families of our country who are grieving over one more blow. Pray that God will bring comfort and hope to them.
- Pray for our government to pursue justice, as God expects from all governments He established.
- Pray for the church of Jesus Christ in Canada to be right now a safe port, a beacon of light from a lighthouse, where people can look for comfort, hope, and reconciliation in this life and next.
In a practical way, as men, I also want to challenge you using the words of the prophet Micah in Micah 6:8: He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
This is a moment for us to humbly, in loving-kindness, seek justice. We thank God we live in a democratic country. And, like the Apostle Paul, we can appeal to our Canadian citizenship and contact our Members of Parliament, Senators, etc., encourage them, pray for them, and request that they do the work that must be done.
Men, we live in times where we all have an opportunity. We can choose to be salt and light, pointing people to the hope we have in Jesus.
Let’s do that.
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