Everything is Changed but Nothing is Different

I saw it again in an editorial in today's local paper. The tragic events
that have occurred have somehow "changed our world." Nothing will ever be
the same. Everything is changed... but nothing is different.

Just this past Monday, in our area there was a shooting at an Amish school -
five girls died, plus the killer, as a result of that shooting. Five other
girls are in the hospital.

We seem to think a tragedy changes the world - that now it's not as safe as
it used to be. After the shooting Columbine, everything changed. After
9-11, everything changed. In one week there were three more school
shootings - one at an Amish school - and now everything has changed. Oddly,
nothing is different. Nothing, that is, except, perhaps, our perception.

The world is a dangerous place. We don't always see it or feel it... but
it's always dangerous. There are no guarantees of any kind of safety in
this world. As one old bumper sticker put it - "You won't get out of this
life alive."

And so what are we to do? How do we protect ourselves and our loved ones
and, especially, our children? The sad and painful reality is that we
can't... oh, maybe we can up to a certain point - but that point comes
quickly and, just as quickly, can disappear. Life is dangerous. Life is
hard. Life is NOT guaranteed.

My grandfather used to tell me, "There are two things every person HAS to do
in this world. One is that you have to die. The second is that you HAVE to
pay taxes. Nobody gets to skip out on taxes this year. And nobody gets to
skip death

Except...

Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will
live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never
die. " (John 11:25-26)

Maybe you do have to die - but who said death has to have the last word? If
that's true, then everything really is different. But it was made different
long before 9-11, long before Columbine. It was made different 2000 years
ago when a Jewish carpenter was killed by the state for nothing he had done
wrong, was buried in a tomb and then, three days later, was discovered to be
alive!!

Now, everything really is changed. Nothing is the same.

Oh yes, there's one more thing Jesus said... right at the end of his
statement about dying and yet living. "Do you believe believe this?"

Do you?