Pray for the families of Mark Renninger, Ronald Owens, Tina Griswold and Greg Richards, the slain Washington State police officers gunned down south of Seattle while sitting in a coffee shop. As I write this, police have surrounded a house where the suspect, Maurice Clemmons, is hold up. God have mercy!

Sometimes we pray because nothing else is worth saying, and no one but God can do anything. This is one of those moments. What about this horrible tragedy makes sense? Where is the justice and mercy and hope God promises? These are questions for God alone, and only he is able to make something redemptive out of this senseless tragedy for the families of these peace officers. That’s why we pray… Nothing else makes sense.  

When horrible human events like this crash down upon us we have two options: We can turn on God or we can turn to God. We can blame and accuse and rail against him and hold him liable, or we can separate his heart from the vileness of those he has created and released to their own actions. In prayer we can make this choice, and ask God, without holding him liable, to do something good in response. That’s a choice we can make and prayer is the way to keep our sanity. Without prayer at such a time as this, I’d find no hope for the world…

Pray with me for the grieving, angry, confused families and friends of these public servants who have died senselessly in the line of duty.

“God this is your world. You have set the rules. You have created humans with the capacity to love but also to hate. We don’t understand why men and women do such evil, as the man who just gunned down police officers in Washington State. Still, here we choose to ask not ‘why?’ but ‘how?’ How now can you turn this disaster into something good? Through and past the pain  these families are now feeling, reach your hand to show them love and comfort. Draw them toward you and don’t let them turn in anger from the only One who can heal their brokenness and pain. Be present for them. In the emptiness of their sorrow show them steady, faithful kindness. Through this season of hope, give them miraculous hope. We can’t see ‘how’ this can become something good, but you do. You do not will such tragedies, but yes, you can use them. We ask that you would bless the families of the slain police officers Mark Renninger, Ronald Owens, Tina Griswold and Greg Richards. Let your light shine in the darkness. Do not let that darkness overcome your presence! In Jesus name.”