Posts tagged ‘Country Music Festival’
The Faces of Las Vegas
These are the faces of lives lost. These are some of the people who went to a country music festival in Las Vegas for a fun night out only to find themselves on the deadly end of a mass murderer’s bullet. These are mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, sisters and brothers, coworkers and friends – human beings made in God’s image.
From the moment SWAT officers burst into Stephen Paddock’s hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay, investigators began to ask the question, “Why?” Why would a man with no ostensible axe to grind or radical ideology to vindicate carry out the largest mass murder in modern American history? Why would he pick this venue? Why would he do so without leaving any apparent clues as to his motivation like a manifesto of his grievances or a record for his place in history? Why?
These are the types of questions that have been the primary drivers of countless news stories over this past week. And “why” questions are indeed very important, for their answers have the potential of helping prevent another attack like this one. But they may also be unanswerable. Indeed, one of the strangest features of this tragedy is that a week has passed and, still, the motive of this man has remained elusive. So, rather than asking “why?” I want to take a moment to focus on “who.” Who was it that lost their life a week ago Sunday?
Bill Wolfe Jr. coached youth wrestling and Little League in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. He had worked for an engineering firm and was well-known as being fun-loving and “a devoted Christian.”
Candice Bowers was described as a woman who “was so busy taking care of everyone else…that she rarely took time for herself.” She lived in Garden Grove, California and had recently adopted her two-year-old niece, Ariel. She also had two older children, ages 20 and 16, and worked as a waitress.
Christopher Roybal was a 28-year-old Navy veteran whose mom was supposed to join him at the concert that night, but before she could meet up with him, shots rang out. He was medically discharged from the Navy in 2012 after going mostly deaf in his left ear. He was a man who would graciously watch chick flicks with and for his mom and had the Lord’s Prayer tattooed on his side. He worked as a fitness trainer in North Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Sandy Casey was a special education teacher in Manhattan Beach, California. She was engaged and was attending the concert with her fiancé. The Superintendent of the Manhattan Beach Unified School District described Sandra as “a spectacular teacher who devoted her life to helping some of our most needy students.”
Charleston Hartfield was a Las Vegas police officer and was off-duty when attending the concert. He was a 34-year-old military veteran who coached youth football. He published a book titled Memoirs of a Public Servant, detailing his time on the Las Vegas Police Force. He leaves behind a wife, a son, and a daughter.
These are the names of only five of the victims who lost their lives a week ago Sunday. 58 were murdered in all. That leaves 53 other names. 53 other faces. 53 other stories. 53 other people. I would encourage you to take some time to learn more about them.
The questions of “why” will always be, in some sense, unanswerable – even if a motive is discovered and a record of the assailant’s thinking is uncovered. Shooting up a concert full of innocent people can never be made to make actual sense, even if investigators uncover what made it make sense to the perpetrator. Sin never leads people to act sanely. Before sin ever affects our actions, it infiltrates and corrupts our minds. This is why the questions of “why,” though they may be important to investigators, cannot eclipse the stories of the people who lost their lives. They matter most. For they are the reason families are grieving and a nation is reflecting. May we never become so obsessed with the motive for a crime that we forget about the people hurt – and, sadly, taken – by this crime.
Praying for Las Vegas
Credit: David Becker / Getty Images
This morning, stories of heroism are already emerging. On NBC’s Today, an eyewitness described police officers and military trained personnel standing up during the shooting while everyone else was crouching down, looking for the injured so that they could render immediate aid. These brave souls put their own lives at risk for the sake of those who were in danger of losing theirs.
Certainly, this will be a story that dominates our headlines and, in one way or another, messes with our heads and hearts. It is difficult to fathom how evil could move someone to commit an indiscriminate act of mass murder like this. It is chilling to imagine what it must have been like to be there.
Right now, on this dark morning, there are two things for us, as a people, to do together. First, we should pray. We should pray for the families of loved ones who have lost their lives. We should pray for the medical professionals who, right now, are tending to many who are critically injured in level one trauma centers. We should pray for law enforcement as they seek to unravel what has happened. And we should pray for Las Vegas. Here is yet another community that has been marred and scarred by tragedy.
Second, as a part of our prayers, we should not forget to give thanks. We should not forget to give thanks for the heroes proven in a terrible time of deadly strife. We should not forget to give thanks for those who risked their own lives to place their fingers in the bullet holes of the wounded. We should not forget to give thanks for those who were willing to sacrifice their own lives to save the lives of others.
As a Christian, I know that salvation never comes without sacrifice. This is what makes the message of the cross both awful and wonderful all at the same time. The cross is the place where the Son of God was unjustly murdered. That is awful. But the cross is also the place where I was graciously given life. And that is wonderful – and the reason I have hope.
At the Mandalay Bay, the unthinkably awful happened. But even the unthinkably awful cannot undo, or even outdo, the bravery of the heroes who were willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of others. So, for the wounded and grieving I pray. And, for the heroes of this morning I give thanks.
I hope you will join me in doing the same.
Pastor Zach's Blog 