Profiting from trials

Consider your faith tested whenever you suffer, whenever you doubt, whenever you fail to answer God's call. It's how you respond to trials and tribulations that can bring glory to God.
     Do you lament the situation or praise God for bringing you through it? Do you ask for forgiveness and for another opportunity to glorify Him?
     Dayton has suffered two major tragedies in a short period of time: the Memorial Day tornadoes and a mass shooting in the Oregon District. In both instances, I was both amazed and proud of how many people reacted with thanksgiving instead of lamenting their losses. The tornado victims said time after time how blessed they felt to have escaped with their lives and how thankful they were for all of the help and support. The number of people killed in the Oregon District that night was about 2 seconds away from escalating into the double or even triple digits. Police responded within 24 seconds and killed the perpetrator just a couple of feet from entering a packed bar.
     It's okay to cry, to be angry, to ask why, but then, at some point, we need to pick ourselves up and praise God for bringing us through. This is how we profit from trials, by showing how we have the comfort and strength of Jesus within us, and the perseverance to move forward.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 

knowing that the testing of your faith produces

perseverance (or patience or endurance). 

But let perseverance have its perfect work, 

that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

James 1:2-4

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Please join me this week in praying for perseverance to talk about Christ.
I'll post daily reminders on:
twitter @7DegreesOfMe
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Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

The sword

You've heard the saying, 'Those who live by the sword will die by the sword.' It comes from the Gospel of Matthew:

Then Jesus said to him, 

“Put your sword back into its place. 

For all who take the sword will perish by the sword.

Matthew 26:52 ESV

I'm not sure we'll ever know for certain why the shooter killed all of those innocent people in Dayton. Not that the answer would make things better. Some of us from my office went to lunch at the Trolley Stop yesterday, driving past Ned Pepper's for the first time this week. It was sobering.  A chill shot through me. Seeing it on TV was one thing, but being there, even just for a few seconds in a moving car filled me with so many simultaneous emotions. I felt anger at the killer for bringing this darkness to our city, for doing this heinous crime that will change so many lives forever. I felt sorrow and fear and grief. And I do want to know 'why' even though it can't possibly make sense to the average person. The victims and survivors didn't deserve this; no one deserves to die in this senseless manner for whatever senseless reason the killer made himself believe. It breaks my heart.

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Please join me this week in praying to stop the killing.
I'll post daily reminders on:
twitter @7DegreesOfMe
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Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Step One

Last night I was watching yet another show about mass murders and what we can do, what we should do, and what our lawmakers need to do to prevent this from happening again ("America Under Assault: The Gun Crisis"). The host/moderator (Chris Cuomo) said something I hadn't thought about...There's no one thing that can be done to stop this. It will take several different measures, but since we can't implement all of the measures at once, no one (in government) wants to do just the one or two things that they can do right now because it will be ineffective. I'm greatly paraphrasing what he said, but I believe that's the gist of it. Why can't we phase in all of these measures one by one, or two by two? At least if we take that first step, then someday, maybe, we'll be like other countries and not have mass murders be a common occurrence anymore.

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, 

adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

Matthew 15:19 ESV

Submit yourselves therefore to God. 

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you

James 4:7 ESV

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Please join me this week in praying to stop the killing.
I'll post daily reminders on:
twitter @7DegreesOfMe
Instagram @archadia27
Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Weapons of mass destruction

Police photos of weapon used in Dayton shooting

Why are these types of weapons available to civilians? The common excuse is that if they weren't, people would just modify other weapons to do the same thing. That tells me that they're only needed for mass shootings.

During the Assaults Weapon Ban (1994 - 2004) the number of mass shootings was an average of 1.5 per year according to several online news sources. "There have been 2,128 mass shootings since 2013, roughly one per day."

Nine states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, and the District of Columbia have banned large-capacity ammunition magazines. We'll see if it makes a difference, although, without it being a federal ban, a determined person would just go to a neighboring state.

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Proverbs 15:1 ESV

Now, who do we know who uses "harsh word(s)" and "stirs up anger"? Who do we know who is in the news every single day calling people names, spreading lies, promoting racism? This has got to stop!

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Please join me this week in praying to stop the killing.
I'll post daily reminders on:
twitter @7DegreesOfMe
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Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Thank you Greg Zanis

This man, Greg Zanis, is on his way to Dayton, bringing crosses he made for each of the victims of Sunday morning's shooting in the Oregon District. Yesterday he was in El Paso.  He's been doing this ever since his father-in-law was murdered in 1996, delivering his first mass-shooting memorials to the victims of Columbine. I remember seeing him on the news back then and had no idea that he would be making 1,000s of these in a decade's time. It turns my stomach that so many have died and still, nothing's been done. Nothing's changed except for the fact that these shootings have become common-place. I feel like our government is more concerned about themselves than the people they were hired to serve. They don't care about us. They can't relate to us and what we go through.

Thank you Greg Zanis for caring. Thank you for your memorials; they mean something to us as a community as well as to the victims' families and friends. We need to see this selfless, giving act in the wake of such a horrible demonstration of what hate can do to a nation. We need acts of love.

For this is the message you heard from the beginning: 

We should love one another. 

Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one 

and murdered his brother. 

And why did he murder him? 

Because his own actions were evil and 

his brother’s were righteous.

1 John 3:11-12 NIV

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Please join me this week in praying to stop the killing.
I'll post daily reminders on:
twitter @7DegreesOfMe
Instagram @archadia27
Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Mass Shootings

We need to talk about this, but I'm speechless. I was born in Dayton and have lived here my entire life. This sort of thing doesn't happen here. How naive of me to think so. I want to write something of substance about this but the words just haven't been coming, and I don't want to rush it. It's taken a while for it to even sink in. Tonight I'll try again to transform seemingly chaotic thoughts into sensible words. Until then, continue to pray.

And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. 

I will demand an accounting from every animal. 

And from each human being, too, 

I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being. 

“Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; 

for in the image of God has God made mankind.

Genesis 9:5-6 NIV

This was the Google homepage this morning; being from Dayton, I appreciated the ribbon.

It says: Our hearts are with the victims, families, and communities of El Paso & Dayton.

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Please join me this week in praying to stop the killing.
I'll post daily reminders on:
twitter @7DegreesOfMe
Instagram @archadia27
Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power