I am shocked and sickened as I watch in stunned disbelief the unbelievable TV reports and frst hand accounts of what took place last night.

A gunman opened fire last night as the Route 91 Harvest country music festival was taking place on the Las Vegas strip across the road from the Mandalay Bay Hotel. As I write, more than fifty people have been killed and more than four hundred injured. This is the worst mass shooting in modern US history.

I hate the fact that we live in a world where a single person can inflict such horrific pain. I hate the fact that people who were only out to have a good time have died in this way.  I hate the fact that our world is so unpredictable knowing that what happened in Las Vegas could happen anywhere at any time. I hate this feeling that we can do nothing to prevent such atrocities from continuing.

I am writing this with a heavy and grieving heart. But I also know that our Heavenly Father is grieving with us.  The Creator of the universe is a Father who loves his children so much that his Son died for us (Romans 5:8). He feels all that we feel, including our pain and grief (John 11:35). “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted” (Psalm 34:18).

He wants us to “weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15), but he also wants us to do all we can to heal our broken world.  The more our world despairs, the more it needs the hope of Jesus. John Wesley once said:

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.

#PrayForVegas and do so right now.

Heavenly Father:
On all who are grieving;
On all who are injured;
On all who are traumatised;
On all seeking to help;
On our broken world;
Lord have mercy.