Hi! Sherry Kyle, here, writing from my laptop in California. Do you need hope today? I was raised in
Colorado and my heart goes out to the people who lost their homes in the recent fires and lost loved ones in the tragic killings in Aurora.

At church yesterday, my pastor talked about the common reactions to tragedy—isolation, irritability, inaction, fear, and hopelessness. Do you relate to any of these? I do. My husband suggested we go to a movie the other day and I shook my head in fear. Besides the recent events in Colorado, I remembered a time twenty years ago when a gunman ran through the elementary school campus I worked at and how I felt trying to protect the four-year-olds in my care.

How do we stay God focused instead of giving in to the common reactions?

1 Peter 3:8-14 says, “Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For, ‘Whoever would love life
and see good days
must keep their tongue from evil
and their lips from deceitful speech. They must turn from evil and do good;
they must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.’ Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. ‘Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.’”

By committing our lives to God and continuing to do good, we can move forward and have hope. Remember, forgiveness is not forgetting, it’s remembering in a whole new way.