Last Friday in Newtown, Conn., a 20-year-old gunman entered an elementary school and killed 26 people after killing his mother in her home.

On Sunday I called my sister Judith, and immediately she said, “Harold, I’ve been consumed with the media coverage of the tragedy.”  

Twenty of the 26 people killed were first-graders, 12 little girls and eight little boys. Innocent little children gunned down in the supposedly safe environment of a school. Many unanswered questions continue to be asked, and some people are questioning God asking Him how He could allow this to happen?

Ever since the world was created, there has been violence. The forces of evil are constantly at work attacking the law-abiding, good people. Only a demon-possessed young man would have planned and carried out such a mass murder.  

“How can we stop the violence?” people asked. Politicians are saying they are determined to find a reasonable solution. All this rhetoric sounds good, but the energy and time spent to prevent such things from happening again could be in vain.  

To find a solution to any problem, we must first get to the root cause. We must admit that there is a spirit of murder in America. I realize that we always had violence, but it’s gotten progressively worse. What one generation has allowed in moderation, the following generations have seen it escalate to where we are today. I believe that when abortion was legalized, it opened the door for evil to make war on our children, in and outside the womb.  

Most of the people I’ve talked to and also the media have been consumed with what happened last Friday. I haven’t been. My heart goes out to all the people in Newtown, especially the families of those that were killed. My spirit is grieved for our country. My thoughts about the little children who were killed take me back to the warning in the Bible that says that we must become as innocent as little children to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Those 20 first graders are little angels in Heaven. I was so motivated by the remarks of Mr. Robert Parker, the father of Emilie, one of the victims. He thanked his Heavenly Father for allowing him to be the father of that precious gift from God. He shared how she was full of life, talented, creative, loving and a mentor to her two younger sisters. “I was blessed to be her dad,” he said. He also said, “I’m not mad. I’m sad, and I want to make a difference. We should not let this define us but inspire us to be better people.”

Of the 20 young people who died, I’m reminded of what Peter Marshall, former U.S. Senate chaplain said years ago. “The measure of life is not its duration but its donation.”  

May God bless and have mercy on the people in Newtown and give them a peace that surpasses all understanding.

If you have any questions or comments, please write to Get High on Life, P.O. Drawer U, Reserve, LA 70084, call 985-652-8477, or email hkeller@comcast.net.