Violence begats violence

It is really hard for me to know exactly where to start on this topic. I am so disgusted at what took place in Colorado over this weekend. It was senseless and ridiculous and had the potential to directly affect some people that I love.

As many of my readers may know, I spent the last 3 years living in Colorado. (Although the last year was spent commuting back and forth between Denver and Las Vegas) Last night I was reading through CNN and saw this front page headline. This gunman walked into a ministry center that trains young missionaries in Arvada and opened fire after being refused a place to sleep. I recognized it immediately. It is the center that one of my best friends since 5th grade works at with his wife. My friend was not there but his sister was. She was one room above the area where it happened. I frantically tried to get him on the phone last night and had a tough time sleeping as I could not get through to him.

Someone was asking why they just didn’t let him sleep there. Like that would have avoided this issue. The fact is that these institutions are businesses. Don’t be fooled by the religious status. As a business they have rules and regulations that they needed to follow and I think that the decision not to let this guy in for the evening was probably a very good one. Apparently he was planting explosives around the building, had grenades and guns.

Then there was the shooting at New Life in Colorado Springs. This is the same church that Ted Haggard was ousted from a little over a year ago. As of right now they believe that this was the same guy at both locations. My Ex wife’s sister had just left the worship service moments before the gunman entered and opened fire. Can you imagine that I could have lost this many people that I care about in one swoop. My hat is off to the armed security guard at the Colorado Springs church that heard the gunfire and rushed towards the scene and took down the gunman. I am glad to see that she didn’t kneel down and pray and ask god for help. She took action and put a bullet in him. As he layed on the ground wounded he started to reach for something, so she fired the second and fatal shot.

This woman is a hero. She saved many lives. I am glad that this man was killed and does not get the opportunity to go through our circus of a court system. We need to start dealing with things like this more viciously in society. If someone takes a gun out in public, do not negotiate. Shoot them in the head. If someone takes a hostage, they should die instantly. These senseless acts need to stop happening. What can we do to stop these things? Do we have any power left at all? I know these things happen all over the world, but how come they are so frequent in Colorado? I am having a hard time gathering my thoughts on this one. Maybe someone can help me see more clearly.

Here is a copy of the email I received from my friends wife

many of you have probably seen the news or heard of the shootings that took place in Arvada CO late Saturday night. The shootings happened at Youth With a Mission Denver which is where ****** and I work. First off, we are safe. We are in Washington on a sabbatical. We return to Denver the 20th of December. ****** and I know the two people who were killed. The girl who was killed was a good friend of mine. We talked on the phone hours before she as shot. One of the others who was wounded went with us to Bosnia. We are in shock. This happened a block from our home, at a place where we are every day. We don't know what to ask for other then prayers, and encouraging words for us and the families and friends of those who were in this tragedy. Thank you for being there for us. Watch the news for any other details. We only know as much as the news people know.