WACKY WEDNESDAY WISDOM: Sometimes I just don't get it

     Normally I write light-hearted, tongue in cheek stuff. The idea is to get people to smile a lot and think at least a little while they read. We need to smile. We need to laugh. We need to think. And we can do all of those at the same time.
     But less than one week after I started writing a weekly column again, tragedy struck. And we don't feel like laughing. And smiles are a little harder to come by. Some crazed lunatic maniac inspired by hatred and evil took it upon himself to start shooting innocent and decent people in Las Vegas a few nights ago. Over 50 are dead and hundreds of others are injured.
     Immediately talking heads on television started talking their heads off. Lobbyists started lobbying, reporters took to reporting, politicians started politicking, and pundits began punditing. I am aware (because my computer underlined it in red) that punditing is not a word, but I tend to make up words at times. Why not- pundits, lobbyists, and politicians make up words and phrases all the time to try to convince me to agree with them.
     Anyway, arguers began to argue, picketers began to picket, and praying folks began to pray. With good reason.Our country is in a mess. Not a hopeless mess but nevertheless a mess. We aren't as unified as we once were. We've always disagreed but now we seem to sling mud at people we disagree with instead of searching for common ground that could lead to solutions.
     But none of that means much to the families and friends of the victims of what is being called the Vegas massacre. Their lives have been permanently altered, and in many cases, they are having to say goodbye way too soon to loved ones who should be eating apple pie and standing for the Star Spangled banner at a football game this weekend. Instead, some have passed on to eternity and others fight for their lives in hospital beds.
     Tina Frost is one of those victims fighting for her life. I watched Tina chase a soccer ball around the field at Gardner-Webb-where I coach baseball- back during her days here a few years back. I did not know her personally but those who do know her speak highly of her. And while folks across the nation debate gun control laws, she is fighting for her life in a hospital bed. Does she know how many people are praying for her? There are a lot of us.
     Sometimes I just don't get it. I'm not mad at humanity and I'm not mad at God. I'm just mad. I don't like to see people get hurt, especially innocent people. I pray and ask God "Why?" and the answer doesn't fall from the sky in the form of a lightning bolt. Does God allow pain and suffering? Or it is us who allows the pain and suffering when we stand by and allow evil to progress unchecked?
     James 2:17 says "Faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead." It's appropriate and good to pray when tragedies like this occur. But it's also necessary to do something about it. We shouldn't just chalk it up to the inevitable presence of evil in the world, we should do everything in our God-given power to stand up to evil and become obsessed with spreading love and compassion to a world that's hurting.
     I don't have answers, political or otherwise. I just know this. God has placed us here on Earth "for such a time as this" to do our part to both advance His Kingdom and to stand up to evil. I won't begin to tell you how to go about that. You figure it out. Say your prayers and then get off the couch and put your big boy/girl pants on and get started.