Evil is everywhere but few could even imagine that it would enter a fourth-grade classroom in Uvalde, Texas, last Tuesday. And that evil took the lives of nineteen students and two teachers. It is hard to see the images of these children flashed on TV screen and to hear the crying of their parents, lamenting the loss of their precious little hearts. Rightly did C. S. Lewis write about Nero, Emperor of Rome who burned the city of Rome only to blame it on Christians, “But to a Christian the true tragedy of Nero must be not that he fiddled while the city was on fire but that he fiddled on the brink of hell.”

What happened last Tuesday was a tragedy of a callous heart—a heart that can no longer feel or care. You see, only a callous heart could shoot his grandmother in the face before going on a killing spree. And that callous heart was barely eighteen; he was still a kid. He was not much older than the children he killed. Perhaps he could still relate to them and play with them; what he could not relate to was their happiness.  I surmise that was the reason he specifically targeted elementary school—the happiest place on earth.

There are many unhappy people around us; so, blessed are we who are happy. I consider myself happy and one of the reasons I am happy is you. Upon knowing that I tested positive for Covid on Thursday, I received the outpouring of love from so many of you.  Thank you for making it easier to go through this sick time, yet at the same time, harder. You see, it is hard not to be with you.

Yes, care does not cure illness, but it does alleviate pain—by adding happiness to an aching heart. In his book, Laugh Again, Chuck Swindoll writes, “A happy heart is not achieved by hard work and long hours.”  Care received makes a heart happier—and less callous.

Pastor Paul