4 Cops Slain! Why?

Why? That was a question I asked myself when I heard about the assassination of four Seattle area police officers this past Sunday morning. The four were just beginning their shifts, working on their laptops at a local coffee shop. In walked Maurice Clemmons. He pulled out a gun and shot each of the four. In the struggle with one of the officers, Clemmons was apparently shot in his abdomen. He ran for two days before he was finally shot by police in a standoff in the early morning hours of Tuesday.

This story saddens me for many reasons. For starters, I feel for the families of the slain officers. I believe all were married with children still at home. As a result of one mad man's senseless act, wives are left without husbands and children are now fatherless. That not only saddens me - it angers me! Something else that angers me is the revelation that the shooter had been given clemency in 2000 by the then governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee. He had been sent to prison for a teenage crime spree, but had his sentence commuted after he demonstrated to the satisfaction of the governor and the parole board that eleven years in prison had changed him. This is what he wrote concerning his change: "Where once stood a young (16) year old misguided fool, who's own life he was unable to rule. Now stands a 27 year old man, who has learned through 'the school of hard knocks' to appreciate and respect the rights of others. And who has in the midst of the harsh reality of prison life developed the necessary skills to stand along and not follow a multitude of do evil, as I did as a 16 year old child."  Unfortunately for the four cops and their families (not to mention other crime victims - Clemmens had 7 pending felony charges in Washington at the time of his death) - his change did not run as deep as he claimed. Now I understand hindsight is 20-20 - but somewhere and somehow the justice system failed!

This brings me to ask about changes you have made in your life. Are they deep and abiding? Or are you just mouthing change while deep down inside you remain the same old ..... whatever. It is easy to claim change ... far more difficult to actually experience it. Now there are a number of reasons for this such as the reality that our sinful flesh bulks at any change toward Christlikeness; and our Enemy (a.k.a. "Satan") sure does not want us to experience change toward godliness; and our entire world system is hell bent on keeping us in line with all of its godless values. All this to say we must PRAY with all our might that God would work deep within us to change us and make us more like Jesus AND we must WORK at disciplining ourselves for godliness. Or as someone once put it: Pray as if everything depends on God and WORK as if everything depends on you!

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj