sorry i’m just getting this up, but our staff at YS just gathered together for a couple minutes of silence, then some prayer for families of those killed, students in that classroom (including those injured), students on the campus, youth workers around the country who will need to talk about this with their kids. god isn\’t bound by our 11am pacific time thingy, so feel free to still join us. here’s the email that went out this morning:
When we hear the headlines about another school shooting there are so many thoughts and emotions that run through our heads and hearts. “Do I know anyone at that school?” “How do we know our kids are safe anywhere?””What troubles a person so much that they’d resort to this kind of violent attack?””How can I help?””Why, God?”
There are no good answers in times like these. Often the only thing we can do is to join together in prayer for the victims and their families, and try to help our students understand something that we, ourselves, can’t comprehend.
We come to you today with no answers, but with a request to join us in prayer for the victims and their families at Northern Illinois University, as well as those involved in the school shootings in Ohio, Louisiana, Tennessee, and California that left five dead over the past week. We need to come together and pray not only for these situations, but for our students and our culture, that these random acts of violence would come to an end and we can all live in peace and safety.
At YS, we’ll be having a moment of silence and a time of prayer at 11am (Pacific Time). We invite you to pray with us at that time, wherever you are. We thank you for your love and service to teenagers and young adults, and we pray that God can heal our world.
“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Psalm 34:18 (TNIV)
Marko-
Thank you for your prayers. I am a rookie youth worker, and a graduate from NIU (spring 2007). We got a strong Crusade and Inter Varsity ministry that needs all of our prayer support in this time of great need. It’s so wierd, that room was where we met for Campus Crusade. All of my friends and old roomates are ok, but we’re still working to pray for the friends and family. Thank you so much for your posting this.
Thanks for posting this, and thanks for everyone’s prayers. I’m the college ministry director at a church in Elk Grove, a suburb of Chicago about 45 minutes away from NIU. We have three students from our church who attend there. Plus, my wife’s younger brother also goes there. Some of the victims are from our area, and I know people who know some of them. Additionally, the shooter grew up in Elk Grove. Which means that almost certainly there are people from our church who knew him. Everyone from NIU related to our church or my family are safe, but a number of them are taking this very hard. Thank you for your prayers, and I would ask that you continue to pray since this is going to be a long recovery process for some people.