Where Was Your God on Friday?

Like a lot of folks, I turned to my Facebook community for support and comfort last night. Mostly, I found it -- in the prayers, wisdom and anger of my friends. What struck me was how many people wanted to know God's activity, or lack of it, in such a tragedy. Mike Huckabee had the answer -- the carnage happened because we no longer force children to pray in public schools. Good going Huckster. I'm sure you made plenty of dough off such infantile, blame the victim beliefs. But every medium from The Christian Left to Fox News had the same question:. Where was God and why didn't God do more?

If you are one who believes God is omnipotent and in control of every moment, or one who believes God is the architect of our pain and suffering, then you've come to the wrong page. Mike Huckabee don't stop here. I don't even believe God is totally omniscient. God's best hope in me is this: I follow God's will and I put myself on God's side but if I'm a paranoid schizophrenic, a sociopath, or just your average, greedy, stingy, narcissistic human being and I flout God's will, then God and you are SOL--sorry out of luck. While the system allows for free will, evil and suffering will happen to the best of us and despite our goodness.

I don't know all God did to prevent or even stop the tragedy, but the carnage reflects our unwillingness to meet the needs of others. Whether we have too many guns in our society, we don't support the mentally ill or a combination of both, we are to blame for the destruction of twenty-seven plus families.

But I do know where God was yesterday, today and tomorrow -- comforting those whose hurt and loss are so impressive and palpable that if their pain raged as a wildfire scarring the earth, the gaping wound would be visible from space. God weeps with them.

God and children belong together. Whether it is Jesus calling the little children to him, the happy Buddha playing with the young or Rumi inviting us to be children to know God, when we look in the face of a child, we see divinity.

So what next? Do we let it happen again? Do we do nothing until next time? If you are wondering what God demands of you, try this exercise: see the face of a lost child. Hold that face in your heart. Imagine God's love surrounding the child. And ask yourself this question: What could I have done to keep this child safe? What should I do to keep all children safe?