What to Notice?

Yesterday was a dark day in our community. We gathered around our screens. Large screens and small screens. We texted and waited. We talked to God and listened to reports. Then we were shocked - hurt - afraid - uncertain. We did not look at Purdue quite the same. We did not look at our homes quite the same. We did not even look at ourselves the same way. The questions swirl. The most simple but included in almost all? Why? Times like this make us all question. We are jolted out of our every day existence and we see life differently. We see the people we love differently. Someone I love very much was only feet away from this tragedy. I was tied in knots thinking about her...life without her. I wanted to hug my wife and kids more last night. I wanted to make sure they saw me and I saw them. I wanted to not allow work to be the most important thing. I wanted to tell the people I love that I love them. We see the things we do in our days with different significance. We feel the fragility of our lives with poignancy. In fact, life's fragility slaps us across the face like the coldness of this day does our cheeks when we step outside. If this was my last day. If this was my wife's last day? It is only a moment away...all the time. What must that 21 year old have been thinking when he walked into that building? Before he died? What did he spend his time doing? If he had known that yesterday was going to be his last day, would he have lived the day differently? If today is my last day at the end of it, would I regret the way I have lived it? We see our money differently. Our spending. Our diets. Our activities. In these changes to our view, good things happen - we may notice the things in life that really matter. We may make changes that make our life look more like our values. After all, we want our lives to be consistent with what we believe. Otherwise, do we really believe it? What do we believe in? What do our lives look like? Where do we spend our time? Where do we spend our money? If you are asking these kinds of questions, we would love for you to join us tomorrow night at McAllister Recreation Center, just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette, from 645-800pm. But, there's another side to this tragedy in many of us. We see things differently. Now we see people and we wonder who is likely to hurt us next. Sometimes now we look around in fear and wonder how we will ever make it. We remember the pains of our lives and we read the news and we want to hide. We do not want to feel the pain anymore. We ask ourselves, "What if?" so much that we begin to doubt there is goodness in this world at all. Now we see the world with distrust and pain. We shake our heads and moan over the pitifulness of the world. We simply despair the society we are in. We feel more hopeless. We decide that we want to hide. We want to run. We take this as another evidence that life is filled with loss and risk is not worth it. Many times when we feel like this, we don't really want to believe this is true, but it is all we can see! Let me tell you something if this is your response. If you just feel buried by days like yesterday...let me tell you that there really is goodness in the world. There is a chance in the midst of the pain and the hurt to have life and joy and peace. there is healing for hurt and brokenness. There is love. there is laughter. The path of pain of this culture we live in is not the only way! I know. I used to live in despair. So did many of us at Morethanmore. But we will not live that way anymore. We have found a better way. We will live life differently. We will shed the usual American life and forge a new path. We will laugh. We will care. We will support each other through the hard times. We will give to our community and make a difference in our world. We will live what we believe. Plus, we would love for you to join us! We have great times every other Thursday night just hanging out - light and fun - we celebrate a different way of life every time we are together. It is so amazing to hang out with some people who actually care about you for who you are rather than for what you can provide to them. To laugh and not have to fake it. To have no agenda and no axe to grind. We have activities for kids - and for youth. Both led by people who really want to help the kids become all they can be - not people who were voluntold they had to fill a spot. Responsible and good people you can trust. We would love to see you! Like i said earlier, we hang out at McAllister Recreation Center, just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette, from 645-800pm every other Thursday night - next being tomorrow night the 23rd of January.