I want to join the many others who are praying for our brothers and sisters dealing with the aftermath of grief in the Virginia Tech shooting rampage. Tim Challies has a round-up, including prayer requests from some brothers near Virginia Tech.
I was reminded of this interview that John Piper did with a woman from NPR right after the Tsunami of late December 2004. It balances pastoral warmth and compassion for the lost and the grieving with a sense of the holiness of God and the certainty of a (greater) forthcoming Tsunami.
“There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.’” –Luke 13:1-5
May our good God overturn this great evil into the multiplication of eternal good in the lives of many, many people.