oh Lord. not again

sometimes this blog is just a place for me to post random ramblings. sometimes it's a place to share God's lessons and revelations. other times, it's therapy.
tonight it's therapy.

today a man walked into a one room schoolhouse in Pennsylvania and shot more than half a dozen kids. all little girls. several of them have died, and the gunman later turned the gun on himself.

it's after midnight, and i should be sleeping, but thoughts keep running through my head. chasing sleep away. thoughts of those poor kids. thoughts of the families and friends left behind. and thoughts of how eerily familiar this story is.

i can't escape the thought (the certainty) that our kids are under attack. the enemy is mounting an offensive against a generation that's powerful and passionate enough to put him in his place. it doesn't take a prophet to figure that one out.

the news is filled with stories, not just of shootings, but of abuse, of neglect, of addiction, of degredation. our kids are under attack, and as a society we've pushed away the only One who's powerful enough to stop it.

today i heard a message about the importance, as a Christian, of reflecting the image of Christ. Using the moon as an analogy, the speaker said "the tide isn't turned by the source of the light, it's turned by the reflection of the light." the idea is that, as the moon reflects the light of the sun but also controls the high and low tide, so we - as we reflect the Son - also control the tide.
if that be so, and i believe it to be true, then we've got to start reflecting Christ and turning the tide that's stealing away our childrens' innocence, faith, future, and very lives.

truly our battle is "not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."

our battle is not against flesh and blood. so we've got to stop relying on our victory over flesh and blood. we're not winning on that battle ground anyway. we've got to learn what it means to fight the spiritual battles that rage. we've got to learn what that looks like and how to engage in it.

our childrens' lives depend on it.

as for me, i'm an inexperienced spiritual "fighter". but i'm learning. i'm willing. and i'm angry. so if the "spiritual forces of wickedness" want our kids, they're gonna have to go through me.