By Cindy Koch –
Today I am sick with anger. Every moment that my own beautiful little children inch toward that front door, out into the bleak and dangerous world, I become frantic. There are murderers and swindlers out there, just outside a parent’s protection. They lay in wait, hunting our children, just beyond our doorstep. I am furious that these evil attackers can destroy such precious lives—moments, years, smiles, hopes, and dreams—for no reason at all. I am devastated that over and over a mother screams for her baby that will never come home, a father is defeated by an enemy that never looked him in the eyes.
And I know you are disgusted too. What has become of our world where our own children cannot be safe at a school, a place created and maintained for the upbringing of our young? What does it mean that children themselves take up weapons to destroy their own kind, their peers, their neighbors? What does it mean for our duty as parents to protect, provide for, and love our children, when an uncontrollable evil lurks around every corner? What can we do?
Hide them. Lock them up. Place my beautiful babes far from the icy fingers of evil. Protect them. Shelter them. This is my frantic first reaction. Blame the weapons. Shame the others. Point to any flaw that contributed to the iniquity. Make more laws. Have more guns. This is my panicked problem solving.
Yet, even after all of this, the wicked world still waits for my children, just outside my door. Death still lurks. Evil is ready to capture. And I haven’t solved anything for my children.
I cannot reason with the wickedness of this world. I cannot control this sick and twisted culture that we live in. I cannot solve the problems of this sinful society, much less a disturbed boy with a gun. I am sick with anger living in this generation of evil.
But this is why a Savior came.
God knew from the very beginning we could not overcome the evil that slinks in the shadows. The Creator of all flesh knew that our children would be born into mortal danger. The Almighty Father sadly cursed His wonderful world turned wicked and then gave His doomed children a promise.
He shall crush your head, and you shall crush his heel.” Genesis 3:15
To the Evil One, the wicked serpent, the inspiration for death, God promises that his head will be crushed. To the first parents, Adam and Eve, who never knew fear before, God promised their child would outlive the evil. To every mother and father who will send their children out into the cursed and dying world, God promised everlasting life and victory through His Son.
And so the wicked world still waits for my children, just outside my door. Death still lurks. Evil is ready to capture. But the Son of God has already defeated sin and death for my children. So, trusting in His promise, there is only one thing to do.
Free them. Unlock the children from our house of fears. They are children who will live forever. Shame, sadness, sickness, bullets, they will all try to speak a different story to us and our children. But they have been named in the book of eternal life. They will still feel His watery name on their foreheads when you remind them of their Baptism. In opposition to the evils and wickedness of this world, they were marked untouchable. They can be sure of the holy blood spilled for their life when together we taste forgiveness. We know, they know, their forever story by the victory of Christ is true and real. Surely, even today, our children are free to live.
