I think that the shooting is so sad. I don’t understand how someone could be that cruel to kill people. Something my friend said really got me thinking. “I wonder how many of them were actually saved.” I hope that through this horrible trajedy people will see how short life can be. We aren’t even promised tomorrow. My youth minister at my church told my youth group, “We are all one minute away from disaster.” Besides, praying I’d like to do more to help and witness to those grieving. Do you have any ideas?

That’s fine when one just looks at it from the surface but if you look deeper, the article mentions that “…on Nov. 27, 2005, a female student reported that Cho had made annoying contact with her through the phone and in person.” It goes on to state that “Police requested a temporary detention order, and Cho was evaluated at a psychiatric facility, Carilion St. Albans Behavioral Health Center in Radford, Va. Following that evaluation, a judge indicated on a court document that Cho ‘is mentally ill and in need of hospitalization, and presents an eminent danger to self or others as a result of mental illness, or is so seriously mentally ill as to be substantially unable to care for self, and is incapable of volunteering or unwilling to volunteer for treatment.’ The amount of time Cho spent at the hospital remains a mystery.”

I don’t know about you all but if a place is going to sell guns, they should also be doing a check for hospitalization in mental or behavioral institutions. Had the shops Cho bought guns from (Roanoke Firearms and an unnamed pawn shop near the VT campus) checked for a previous record of such criteria, this tragedy might never have occurred.

Unfortunately, this event did get marked in history alongside Columbine and the Amish schoolhouse tragedies. The best we can do is pray for the families of those whose lives were so inconsiderately snuffed out by Cho Seung-Hui.

She shares the good news at home, too. Her work as an international missionary is an extension of ministry at home and in our community. It’s harder to minister at your home town or to your family then it is to witness in another country to a stranger. That’s why I believe the verse in Acts 1 says ‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of all the earth.’ Jerusalem was the city they were in. Judea would be comparable like our state or country. Samaria - our neighboring country or state. Then He said ‘to the ends of all the earth.’ This is not a box that God works in, but I do believe that route would be the logical progression. Start at home.

Notice that verse said to minister after the Holy Spirit comes on you. I’ve tried to witness to someone without God calling me to, and I fell flat on my face. My prayer today is that I didn’t turn them away from the gospel. If you go out on your own without being prompted by God I believe you’re stepping outside of God’s covering. I’ve seen what my flesh accomplishes, and it isn’t pretty. It’s great to know that the Holy Spirit can convict by the presentation of the law, like many methods teach. But what if God knows that person is broken, guilt-ridden, and despairing? What would a presentation of the law accomplish in comparison to a prompting from God to hug him, tell him ‘Jesus loves you, and He desperately wants you to come home to Him?’ What are we without the Holy Spirit and His leading?

I know that some of us disagree about being sensitive to his prompting, and that’s okay. This may be the way that I’m supposed to live, not you all. But there’s scriptural support for street evangelism AND relationship evangelism. Its awesome that God uses both…

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 – 11 Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

People don’t care what you know, they want to know you care. God uses both witnesses; the verbal explanation and the daily quiet example. In both cases we need to maintain our sensitivity to His voice, and SEEK an opportunity to share the good news. Did you pray for that opportunity today?

As a result of this, I am giving you a blog award. The Blogging with a Purpose Award.

You should post the banner at the link below, and nominate five other Bloggers.

Here is the banner you can put on your blog:

http://homeschoolblogger.com/BlogBoy/320992/

If you have any problems with the code, just e-mail me.

Eric Novak

Oh! I guess I was the one that misinterpreted!! Sorry.

Your sister in Christ.

Praise the Lord, for He is Good!

With the rise of the “how to” programs out there with regards to sharing faith, many people feel they’re inadequate to “properly”(as though there’s a right and wrong way to do it) evangelize someone, without first learning the way of the Master. I believe these techniques about how to get someone talking about God are superficial and can really turn someone off to the gospel. A better way of reaching people, I believe, is to be a friend, not an evangelist, to the people within your circle of influence. Evangelists speak to large crowds and look for quick decisions. Friends speak in private and are genuinely concerned for the person, not just the person’s decision.

As people grow to trust you and see that you have only their best interests in mind, (not just their conversion), they will (by the Lord’s prompting) begin to open up to you in due time.

We need’nt rush things. Jesus took his time with the Samaritan woman at the well, with Nichodemus, Zacheus, his disciples, and so on. In fact, we don’t even know when his disciples became believers. The bible doesn’t say, and Jesus didn’t even ask out side of asking Peter who the people and he say that he is. But we know that at some point (when God determined) the disciples (minus Judas) and many more came to believe in Jesus as their Savior. Jesus even waited 30 years to begin his public ministry. If he didn’t rush things, I don’t think we have to either.

I would encourage you all to be missionaries to whatever culture God has placed you in. Seek to meet needs as they arise around you. Befriend the lonely, help the widows and single moms, embed yourselves within the culture that people you love are a part of. Plant when you can and water when you’re able too. Then step back and allow Jesus to cause the growth.

As far as the VA Tech shooter, could someone have reached him before he did what he did, yeah, someone could’ve. But trusting in the sovereignty of God like I’m called to, I have to believe that the Lord prevented that from happening for His own reasons. Remember, no one reached Hitler, Stalin, or Mousalini either, and combined they murdered far more innocent people than Cho Seung-Hui.

As a Father of 8, since the shooting, I can’t help but think of the gunman’s Dad. What kind of relationship they had? What he told him life was about? Did he have his son’s heart like Dad’s are suppose to according to scripture? Did he even want his son’s heart? I know his son gave his heart away to something or someone. What a shame it wasn’t to the one who was suppose to lead him to Christ, his Dad.

I meant, when your in a room watching a movie, and a sex scene comes up, you leave the room. You don’t laugh it off and keep watching, and you don’t stay because it would cause an uncomfortable situation. You’re intolerance for sin can set an example.

I see it all the time, especially in a group of young people like those at Virginia Tech, that when a touchy subject comes up and someone asks a Christian in a disgusted or irritated voice, “So you think being gay is bad?!” the reply is weak nod or shrug, or they try break it gently—instead of having scripture ready to prove our point and a firm and sure attitude saying YES! It IS wrong. God says it’s wrong.

I see it happen aaaallllll the time. It’s the acceptance of the unacceptable. Quiet complacency rather then cause a scene.

God told US to go out into the world and preach the the news, He uses US because we have God’s Spirit in us. He has commissioned us to spread the gospel to every nation. He said we should have a -ready- answer when somebody asks us the reason for the hope that is in us. God has already given us the words and a spirit of confidence so that we can boldly say the Lord is my helper. I don’t need to wait until He nudges me, because He has already commanded me to spread the word.

Well…this is getting off topic, so I’ll stop.

And, yeah, I know God is in control…He’s ’shown’ me plenty of times. He’s showing it to us right now by my message…I should be dead, see. By the laws of this world I should be dead. But God saved me.

“APPLICATION? Life is too short, eternity too long, and salvation too precious to think only of yourself. PRAY FOR AN OPPORTUNITY EVERYDAY TO SHARE THE GOSPEL!”

Amen.

Goodbye!

P.S. I don’t want to turn this into a debate, I just thought I was misinterpreted.