when the sheriff comes to church

These past two weeks have been tough. Tough for me, personally, tough for the University of Washington – secondly, and tough for the city of Seattle, and this is why. I’ve been sick. Sicker then I’ve ever been and I spent every second of last week alone and in my room, coughing and sleeping and feeling sorry for myself. I cried when checking into Hall Health, and then again in front of the doctor, and then again in the pharmacy. Pretty sure I had whooping cough, and malaria, and the flu, and the plague (just my guess). On the plus side, I missed a week of classes, the week before finals, so it’s not that awesome at all.

And then on Tuesday, in the dorm next to mine, a student committed suicide. He jumped off the top balcony, and was found outside. This is where I live and it was way too close to home. I walk past and in and through and eat at that dormitory every day. I’m not sure why this is affecting me so much, but I’m having trouble sleeping. It makes death very plausible, very close. On Wednesday they locked all the balconies for the rest of quarter.

Then yesterday, I was sitting in a café studying and we heard the news, that 5 people had been shot in another café a few streets down from campus. That the gunman was on the loose. That three were already dead. We got emails from the police urging us to look for the man, and as the day progressed – as sirens blazed, and helicopters craned the skies, things developed. He shot and killed another woman down town. And then finally, when approached  - he shot and killed himself. Six people died yesterday this way. They died. Facebook has been filled with death and grieving, of people asking for prayer and students hardly believing the fact that there are SWAT teams searching for gunmen round their houses. At church last night, there was a sheriff present.

And now I’m in finals week, I take my last class today and I have one paper, one exam and one screen play left to hand in. Then I’m ready to post a box back home, pack up my room, sell my textbooks, say my goodbyes here and start my way to Africa.

I’m feeling weird. Life is weird right now. Campus has a weird vibe, I’m not really ready to move on, and yet not strangely, in light of the past two weeks – I kind of am.

God has been present, and in many more ways then possibly ever before I’m taking great comfort in Philippians 1:21, because “for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain”. 

I don't need to fear. I have nothing to fear. No fear.

Human life is precious, and human sin is rampant. Two good lessons to learn in preparation for Africa.

This isn’t a very happy post. Nine days out from leaving Seattle, and that’s just the way it is.

Life is precious, you are precious.