Mourning with America

I don't know how to capture in words the sorrow I am feeling as I am reading the stories of the events of Monday's shooting at Virginia Tech that claimed the lives of 33 people. I began to cry as I listened to President Bush's speech at the convocation, and they just flowed as I read the biographies of the victims. One of them, an old lecturer from Israel, survived the Holocaust only to be gunned down by a student in his classroom in America 60 years later. Others were at the top of their classes, lovable people. One was a student from Peru who decided to come to America shortly after 9/11 and had dreams of changing the world. We in China are deeply saddened by this tragedy. It is times like this when I feel so far removed from all of you in America. I remember at about this time last spring Taylor University, my alma mater, learned of the tragedy that claimed five of its lives. I remember the campus coming together like a family during that time, something that is needed all the more now. I am not going to try to offer pat answers or implore people to find forgiveness or get into the social ramifications of such a tragedy. Now is not the time for such things. Now is the time to mourn. We have to trust that God will help us make sense of all this...not today and not tomorrow, but someday. My prayer goes out to the victims' families and friends, including that of the gunman because they just lost a son, too. May the God of all Comfort touch you.