I Would Take a Bullet For You...

Yesterday was a horrible day for this nation. At Virginia Tech University a shooter killed 31 people on campus. He turned his gun on himself and left a campus and a nation in shock and sadness. As I write this, I am on my own campus states away... and it is business as usual. A few teachers have mentioned the event in a prayer, but not much else has been said. I am not speaking out against my college or the students who I sit among. This is a confession of a guy who says a lot of things, but does very little to put action to those words.

I was driving with a buddy of mine a couple of months back. We where driving down the George W. Bush Turnpike with the windows down. We had Mat Kearney playing over the wind coming through the windows. As we sang along to the song "Bullet", I actually started to listen to the words I was singing:

It doesn't matter if they call me wrong,
It doesn't matter if ya' steal my
song,
It doesn't matter if we're all alone,
It doesn't matter at all,
I
would take a bullet for you.
I would across any line or swim across the
sea.
I would loose it all or take my fall to show you it's for real.

It reminded me of Jesus and what His life was for us.

1 John 3:16"By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."

I sat for a moment in quiet reflection on the way I was living my life. I turned down the music and said one of the most honest sentences I ever said about myself:

"I would step in front of a bullet for someone, not because it is something Jesus would do, but because it is heroic and people would remember such an act... But I wouldn't give up an afternoon nap to help anyone. I sleep through my phone ringing with a broken hearted friend on the other end, because I am selfish... My naps are more important than helping people in need. How sad is that? A nap?... I would forsake the commandments of my Savior for a 45 minute nap? I want the Lord to use me in a mighty way, but I won't give up a nap to dig into His word? I want to be a leader, but I could care less about people if they are trying to interrupt my nap with their "problems"? How pathetic! Jesus spent so much time in His ministry without sleep. What would have happened if He didn't wake up from His nap to calm the storm and teach His disciples about His power and sovereignty? What if when they awoke Him, He shot them the bird and went back to sleep? I know this is a bit extreme, but I hope you get my point. There is an awful feeling in the pit of your stomach when you find out that you rarely live the words that you say you live by. Humble, is a mild word for that feeling. But the Lord is stronger than anything that I can possible do or be. He lived a life that covers all my sin and hypocrisy. How beautiful it is to know that He loves me in spite of myself.

I am without words when it comes to yesterday's shooting at Virginia Tech. How sad is it when a life is taken on the whims of another person? The Lord is just, in spite of our limited understanding. He is bigger that this...I need a nap.