As I write this my wife and I are about to have our first child. That fact neither adds to or distinguishes the reason for mourning over and above anyone else’s reason. We all should mourn the terrible loss of life and innocence in Connecticut today. The feeling in the pit of my stomach reminded me of that day 11 years ago when I heard about the towers. An incredible sick and sinking feeling. How could this be happening? How could such a terrible thing happen? Why would someone do this?

There are no answers that will ever satisfy. They can come up with the events that led to today or they can figure out why this individual was so out of his mind that he would turn a weapon on innocent children, but there will never be a real answer to why it happened except that we live in a broken world. Our world is spinning in chaos on every continent. Every neighborhood, city, state and country needs truth. Every person needs to hear that there is an answer to the questions we can’t seem to find an answer to. It seems very cliche to say that Jesus is the answer. The truth is, He is the answer, but how will the people who are asking the questions ever know that unless we share.

There are people who will struggle with responsibility for years to come. Parents who made their child go to school when they didn’t want to. Teachers who sent a student to the office. Family members who should have seen the signs. The responsibility falls on every one of us. We need to see the people around us, really see them. We all need to look for ways to help someone who may not know how to deal with their situation. We need to intentionally seek out opportunities to love our neighbor. I don’t ever want to be the person in the story who could have made a difference if I had just been paying attention.

There are families who will be struggling to make sense of this. Husbands and wives will be pulled apart by their own grief and not knowing how to console each other. Children who will be sleeping in alone in a room they used to share will be filled with fear because they can’t hear the breathing of their brother or sister. We all have a responsibility. Pray. Seek out a chance to minister and love someone today. Pray that the churches, pastors, leaders, and people in that community can somehow help keep things together.

Everyone has a story. If God gives us an opportunity, we all need to be a good chapter, a turning point, in someone else’s story. We can’t see the end, but we don’t have to. We need to get involved before it’s too late to help.