Thoughts after the Boston Marathon bombings

How do we make sense of hate crimes such as the Boston bombings this week? Crimes that maim and even kill innocent people and alter lives forever?

My finite mind will never reason it out. There is no justification for senseless, needless killings. Humans have free-will choices. Many choose to use their choices to do good. Unfortunately, there will always be those who choose evil.

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” — Jeremiah 17:9/NLT.

And what about those who wake up this morning with no son, daughter, sister, or brother? What about the injured with missing limbs, brain or head trauma?

How do we counsel them? What words could possibly ease their pain?     

Amidst this horrific situation, God stands ready to comfort, to extend his caring, loving arms. To wrap those arms around bleeding limbs & hearts. God’s love is deep and strong — able to shelter the worst storms. He extends his hands and says, “Come to me, my bruised child. I will ease your pain.”

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God … but this happened that we might not rely on ourselves, but on God” — 2 Corinthians 1:3-5, 9.