Senseless Act

Justin Fairfax, former Lt. Gov. of Virginia, and his wife are dead at his hands after an apparent murder-suicide last Thursday. The couple had been in divorce proceedings and Fairfax had recently been ordered to move out of their shared home. The violence occurred with their two teenage children at home, both of whom were unharmed.

Analysis and eternal perspective: It is our second intensely difficult story in a row. Much like the first, most of us will not be in a position to do more for this hurting family than pray (though, if any of you are local, prayerfully consider how you can comfort the grieving). In fact, it is tempting to turn away from this story altogether. Ultimately, I’m including it for our collective consideration largely due to how a similar story shapes my own life.

In chapter seven of my book, My Fame, His Fame, I write about a similar act of senseless violence that ravaged our family two generations ago. On February 26, 1962, my then-eight-year-old dad lost his mom and stepdad in a similar chain of events. There is no sugarcoating the magnitude of the pain those events caused.

But my friend, tragedy and pain are not the end of the story! You serve a God who comes to the rescue of the hurting, who pulls beauty from ashes, and who wipes away generational pain.

I do not know what tragedies are part of your story. But I do know there are some. It is the reality of our existence in these temporary bodies. But no matter the details, God has a plan that is greater than the circumstances in which you find yourself. The enemy of your soul came to “steal and kill and destroy,” but your God came to give you life “to the full” (Jn. 10:10)!

Your story has tragedy in it. But your story is wrapped up in His story, and the end of it has been written. You will cry no more (Rev. 21:4), and you will reign with Him forever (2 Tim. 2:12)!