Why we grieve, why we have hope

I've been online for a couple of hours working on the blog, conversing with friends and watching stupid videos with the wife. After she went to bed I tuned in to the LAPD valley division radio traffic to have a listen. From 10:30pm till now (12:27) I have listen to the LAPD respond to a possible kidnapping call and now a shots fired with one victim down at Woodman Ave at Sherman way. I drive past this intersection twice a day, once as I head to work and again as I head home. As I type I am listening to LAPD officers locate and tend to the victim until the RA can get on scene, which won't happen for a moment because the scene isn't secure, the shooter is loose. I can only imagine the terror that the victim and witnesses must have felt. In fact right now I can hear LAPD Air 10 overhead and see the searchlight scan area around Van Nuys Blvd. They've just confirmed it was a drive by shooting and fortunately the intended target was not seriously hurt. Our city is gripped by gang violence because young men desire what they cannot have and are willing to kill to get it. It is the most raw example of sin in action I can vision. Depressingly this call will be resolved in a few minutes. The brave officers of the LAPD will handle this call with the cool professionalism I have heard time and time again. But the radio will not be silent for long, a domestic incident call, a code-3 ringer, or traffic collision will surely follow. This goes on 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It is a veritable live stream of human depravity.

This causes us who are Christians to grieve, and we must grieve because our God is grieved by these things. As long as the police radio speaks it testifies against man to God that we are a wicked human lot. We grieve because men created in the image of God kill one another. We Christians my grieve by the carnage that sin is wrecking all around us. A Christian who cannot search his heart and find grief inexpressible needs to take their relationship with the world into consideration and ask, 'have I not become to comfortable in this world?'

But as Christians we also hold a hope that is nearly inexpressible. All the wickedness in this world is being accounted for. For those who confess their sins and trust in Jesus as savior this wickedness is accounted for on the cross. For the unbeliever this wickedness will be accounted for on the day of Judgment. -Judgment- that's the point, nothing will escape judgment and recompense. In the end God wins, justice is established and evil is sentence to exile in hell. So tonight as I watch the Helo circle and hear the sirens of the cop cars, I also am hearing on the radio that the suspect "drove away in a white van" and that's all the boys have to work on= translated 'bad guy probably gets away tonight.' But God is watching and keeping account. The suspect may flee for now and get away but his running will end one day when he runs smack into God. Praise God for the preservation of the victim and the work of the police and may God find it pleasing to smash the suspect with the life changing grace that he has so amply demonstrated that he needs.

P.S. they are now showing this as a live pursuit on tv. On the radio: He just entered the 181 the wrong way colliding with a car but he was able to exit to W Chatsworth. Officer needs help call just went out as the suspect rammed a cop car. Patrol cars are being told to stand off until air support can spot the vehicle. At this point the incident commander has asked all units to follow at a safe distance for the purpose of keeping any eye on the suspect until air support can arrive. The suspect just ran a solid red light at Roscoe. The commander is on the radio now, cool as a cucumber. Male black shirt, blue jeens white shoes, he's ditched the car and is now running on foot...it's only a matter of time now. The code 4 just went out, they got him. The police unit that was rammed has requested an RA. But a moment later everything is called code 4. Everybody goes home tonight.