Remembering the Past but Living in the Present and for the Future

This week's post reflects on the tragic events April 16, 2007. Allyson is one of the faithful attenders of our Friday women's Bible study/discussion group so we're excited to finally have a post from her. Please comment or share what aspects of her Meditation most touched you.

I can’t help but think about, reflect, and meditate on the fact that it has now been 5 years since the tragedy that occurred at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007. Even though I wasn’t a student here yet, and I was actually in the midst of working towards acceptance literally in the very weeks that followed April 16th, I still experience a lot of feelings surrounding that day.

I think this year is actually the year the tragedy has affected me the most, the year that I’ve done the most reflection on, and the first year that I’ve approached the whole situation from a Christian perspective. I’ve also thought about where I was 5 years ago today and where I am now. I remember sitting on the couch watching it all unfold on CNN because I was up much earlier than usual because I was mad at my mom for taking my cell phone away as punishment for “sneaking out” the previous day. Yes. I was at a very low point back then. I was not a Christian, had no idea what it meant to be a Christian in fact. Yet, God provided the means for me to come here, and though I wasn’t aware of it at the time, He called me to come to this campus through the sense of community I felt in the aftermath of the tragedy.

Over the last 5 years, as a Hokie, I have grown so much, and felt the sense of community on this campus, in the town of Blacksburg as a whole, and especially within the BCM. God put me here for a reason and He placed people in my life whom I would have never met if it weren’t for Virginia Tech. These Christian friends from the BCM, who live their lives according to God’s will, embodying our university’s motto “Ut Prosim”, That I May Serve, to the level of what we’re called to do as Christians - to share Christ’s love with others- have forever changed my life.

I want to share a verse that I’ve often heard Darrell and others mention as being the life verse of Brian Bluhm, our brother in Christ who was taken on that fateful day:

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”- Jeremiah 29:11

To me this verse points us all towards our faith in Jesus Christ, and to God as our provider; when the future seems unknown or rocky, or seems like it has been wrongfully cheated out of us through a tragic, violent act, we still are saved by grace through our faith in Jesus and we still have HOPE for a FUTURE.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God”-Ephesians 2:8

When we think about the fact that the grace we receive through our faith is truly a gift from God, from the same God who CREATED us:

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them,” –Genesis 1:27

And when we think of God as the creator of all the world, over heaven and earth, that everything comes from Him, it can be challenging to accept how bad things in this world can happen. It can be difficult to remember that God as omnipotent ruler of the world allowed April 16, 2007 to happen. Many who are not believers question and doubt God, for why He could let something so evil occur to His people; these are not easily answerable questions, but we need to rest in the fact that those 32 victims, who were all exemplary students and faculties, at the tops of their classes, strong Christians, leaders in their community, whose lives were all sacrificed that day, that these people were the perfect example of Virginia Tech students and faculty. I can’t help but think that these victims, while they were yet sinners, were used by God to awaken this campus and to draw this community together and to bring about love from the Father in the healing of the aftermath.

I know that the number of deaths that occurred on April 16th, 2007 is always a touchy subject. I believe that there were 32 innocent victims who were shot viciously by one student. But I can’t help to think about that other student too, the shooter. He also lost his life, and he was so broken and so driven into desperation that he saw no solution other than to take the lives of strangers and himself. He was an unreached member of our campus; he was lost. Although it’s hard to think of remembering 33, I know as Christians that we are called to love the broken and the non-believers in addition to the saved. I know that we should pray for his family; when I think about how we are called to respond to this situation as Christians, I think about the fact that we are called to love our enemies as well.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”-Matthew 5:43-48

I stand here today, saved and a follower of Jesus Christ, able and ready to serve and love the world as He calls us to, in part because I’m a Hokie, and I’m a Hokie in part because I felt connected to come here after April 16th. I have learned that the people we come across in our daily lives, in the BCM and within our classes are so incredibly important. I have thought and reflected all semester over the memory verse that Darrell had us look at back in January:

“So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share not only the gospel of God, but also our own selves, because you have become so dear to us.”-1 Thessalonians 2:8

I know this seems like a simple verse, or maybe I’ve blown it way out of proportion in my own life, but I feel like we all need to reflect on this and live our lives in a way with the people around us that we are both witnessing/sharing the gospel, but also just sharing our lives. As a wise BCM North member shared in a video shown at Senior Bible study this past week, we need to conduct ourselves around the people in a way such that they will DESIRE to know Christ-this doesn’t translate to Bible beating, but rather building relationships.

So to close this out, my meditation has centered on reflection of the past, on knowing what our identity is through Christ, and on living our lives according to what He has called us to, to become disciples to others, even in the midst of trial. Because, as April 16, 2007 is a reminder, we can be called to leave this earth at anytime, so we need to act now.