35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”[a]
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[b] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. -Romans 8:35-39
Our daughter lives three miles from the outlet mall in Allen, TX. Our son lives four miles in the other direction from the outlet mall in McKinney TX. They live only seven miles apart.
Allen is a mostly affluent community boasting of superb schools, walking, and cyclingtrails, gorgeous city parks with picnic areas, sidewalks, state of the art neighborhood playgrounds, and safety. Safety. I must pause to say my daughter and I rode our bicycles several mornings at 5 am in Allen on a busy thoroughfare when our first granddaughter was born. The thought never entered my mind to be cognizant of my surroundings because people were out and I knew the safety of this area. Nothing suspicious. Just honest, hardworking folks getting their walk in before work.
A week ago, security in their suburban community was devastated by a lone shooter who decided to use the outlet mall to solve his problems. An afternoon of shopping turned deadly. Friend, the innocence was unexpectedly taken from them, and yet, God knew what was in the shooter’s mind. He knew the action before it happened. He knows what you and I are going to do before we do it.
My children were not at the outlet mall when the incident occurred. Although, they were planning on going to the outlet mall when afriend called to say, “Are ya’ll at the outlet mall? Don’t go!” How many times has our heavenly father asked us not to go? To fix our eyes on him? To trust him when we don’t understand? To bow the knee before him? Sweet friend, he is our protector, our guide, our strength, and our shield. May we be tuned in to hear his still small voice whisper: This is the way, now walk in it. I pray you will make the choice to seek his will and way for your life, today, and walk in it.
Very good