God is still here

Sunday December 23^rd, Micah 5: 3 The LORD will abandon Israel only until this ruler is born, and the rest of his family returns to Israel. 4 Like a shepherd taking care of his sheep, this ruler will lead and care for his people by the power and glorious name of the LORD his God. The recent events in Sandy Hook remind us of the importance of being there and protecting our children and the children in our communities.  It’s tough being a loving parent or a caring leader. In doing what is best for your children, you sometimes have to do the unpopular thing. Without it your children never grow up, and even with that tough love, they tend to grow very slowly. As the children of God, we all have a lot of growing to do. When we feel abandoned by God, it is good to know (1.) we are never really abandoned, we have just turned our eyes to all the pretty trinkets and forgot where we were going. When FOX news hosts Mike Huckabee suggests that the reason for the shooting in Sandy Hook was because we have taken God out of our schools, he is wrong.  God has never abandoned us, and to suggest that God would turn his face and allow this killing to take place because of the issue of  respecting all the people of faith rather than just a narrow view of who that might be, is appalling, and little different than what Westboro Baptists is doing.  (2.) Consider that perhaps we are the ones who have moved, we have put our attention on protecting the gun lobby and taken our funding from the school systems and mental health treatment.   God is still there, God is still with us, God is still calling us, maybe the reason we don’t hear, feel, know God is that we have moved out of range and turned our focus on the shiny new weapons that give us the illusion of power.  (3.) Therefore perhaps we are being called to do a bit of growing, to move beyond the gimme childhood and into a what can I do adulthood. (4.) the Lord has promised to lead and care for us. Take heart, O weary one, Emmanuel is with us always. The Greek for repentance is to turn ones self around.  Turning around helps, actually walking in the right direction helps even more.