As I read John 10:10…My thoughts go to the killings in Boulder…such a different meaning taken on when the word kill is used…my prayers for their families…for the police officer said to have 7 children. And a writing seems to come as I look at those who were killed…
Just like that…lives forever changed…and though there were
10 individuals killed…and that word just has such a haunting to it…and as I
seek a definition of the word as mine seems to say to take another’s life…I
find a search that asks if killed is a verb…and then it goes on to say, “extinguish
the life of”…so many lives forever changed!
I read what is written of each of these individuals…each a unique
individual in their own rights. In one
place I had looked, the news seemed to give that of what Facebook postings had
to say…yet others were given a few short sentences in what someone who cared
about them said…and I pause and wonder…what would be said of me? Though this not about me…it is something to
reflect upon…isn’t our life more than a summation of a few words…or is it!
One of the most mentioned is a police officer, Eric Talley… Officer
Talley leaving behind 7 children…and I do the math of him being an officer for
10 years…and I think of another police officer in my circle…killed 10 years ago…as
in life…one leaves and another begins. I
thinking and praying for new officers who are beginning…and my heart goes to
this family of love…this family of blood…this family of duty…
I see the headlines…some trying to instantly make this political…to
fit in with agendas…yet LIFE isn’t supposed to be about political and agendas…it
is about the dashes…the love…of what we did in this life while here on this
earth…and I look back at the verse…John 10:10…life abundantly! ABUNDANT…a word that could take on so much…yet
I find in definitions one that says…
SHEFA (ABUNDANCE): Shefa is
a word in Hebrew literally meaning Abundance. This holy symbol is the symbol of
abundance in its highest form - as a Divine principle of the flow between
Creator to His creation.
In having a faith in Jesus…I believe there is MORE…more than
just this life of a dash between the dates…I picture a baptism of my
granddaughter…at her daddy's mass...(I put a link to another writing of that time https://pennify.blogspot.com/2011/03/point-of-light.html)…and she would use the signing taught to her
by her aunt…and as the water sprinkled upon her she signed for more…though the
choices made during the dash determines what comes after the date and the dash
and the date…there it does not stop…I know some think I use the dot…dot…dot…way
too often...of my sentences running together…Although…life is a continuation…sometimes
a single period will not suffice…life doesn’t always just simply stop…there is
MORE…ABUNDANT!!!
Yet there are those who come to try and steal and kill…to
destroy…and that is nothing but evil! It
can be fought all day of this or that being the cause of death…yet bottom line
is it goes back…back to the garden when we began with our “free” choices…to
live as we thought fit…not always taking the path of love and good…but instead hate
and evil…Though during this season…coming upon Easter…we are reminded there is
more…Jesus “killed” so that mine and your dot-dot-dot…my ellipsis more formally
defined…could go on beyond my dash—why?
Because death has been defeated!
There where One named Jesus took the bullet if you will…for me…for any
who would choose to believe…
I pray for peace and comfort for lives "extinguished" in what
seems way too soon… and this prayer extends beyond just those 10…others I know
who have given goodbye’s sooner than they would like…of families I have seen
and felt some of the pain they are feeling…and during this time…may prayers be
made for peace and comfort…prayers I have felt in times as this…prayers for
strength to get through the hard days ahead…and prayers that they will feel the
“Good Shepherd”… (talked of there in this Book I have opened by a man named
John…who seemed to be a part of Jesus’ inner circle)…that the LORD…our Shepherd…may
be close by their side…allowing them to “find the green pastures”…That they may have life…and have it more ABUNDANTLY…lyp
