Before I began to write, I knelt at my chair and asked God to guide me. I asked him to guide our leaders and heal our divided nation. I prayed for the lives and families that were destroyed by senseless violence in Connecticut.

    First, I would like to reach out to those families who suffered such horrible loss. I ache to calm their hearts and ease their pain. But how? What can I possibly do that will relieve even a small portion of their pain? There is nothing. Nothing save falling to my knees and pleading with God hold them in his hands and soothe their trembling souls.

    I am sure that it is clear to all that I support and am willing to fight to defend the second amendment. Yet, a part of me dies when I see some depraved individual abuse that right to commit such evil. What is it, I wonder, that can make a person devalue a human life to this horrible degree? The truth is that it is beyond my comprehension. Bare with me as I try to make some sense of all of this.

    First, let me say that I moved to Idaho about 15 years ago because my family and I were running from a Tacoma gang. They used guns as a means to do us harm. In reply, I drove them from my home with a shotgun. In this case, guns were used for evil purposes and for good. Yes, I cling to my guns.

    We are seeing an increase of these terrible shootings. Why?

    I have heard that it stems from the use of violent video games that simulate the killing of people while desensitizing the player. I suppose that there is some truth to this. But then again, when I was a boy in the sixties, life was a continual game of cowboys and Indians or army games. I ran and played with my friends, shooting Indians and being shot by them. Every dirt clod became a hand grenade. We shot and blew up and played dead. For us, it was always just a game. I suppose that violent games may have some effect, only minimal I think.

    So, let us take a look at things we can measure.

    The results of a Gallup Poll illustrates on a state by state basis the most and least religious states. Pick a mass killing and look to see if it occurred in a religious or non-religious state. There is a pattern. This is measurable.

    I entered the Army shortly after the Vietnam war. At that time, there was a program that allowed a young person to enter the Army rather than serve a jail sentence. Their punishment was to serve as an Eleven Bravo infantryman. These were the grunts, the lowest form of Army personnel. I served in aviation. When one of our group messed up bad enough, their MOS was changed to Eleven Bravo and they suffered for the rest of their enlistment as a foot slogger who was barely considered a life form by the rest of us.

    As I have talked with young men in the service, I am very often surprised that being an infantryman is desired and sought after. Infantry is virtually the dirtiest, most exposed, and most likely to kill up close and personal. This pattern puzzles me and it is measurable.

    In recent years, I have been very disturbed to see Christianity, or any religion for that matter, become something that is attacked and hated by many of our countrymen. This troubles me deeply. This is a pattern, it is measurable.

    I know what depression is. I have wondered what it would be like to be so gone that killing myself would be a way out. Were I to seriously consider the act, one thing would be very troubling. I was brought up to believe in God and to know that I am his son. That I am precious to him. I believe that no one who knows God would consider such a thing. But, if I were so gone that I decided to kill myself, I would know that I would leave this life to face God. Knowing this, there is no way that I would willingly go to meet him with the blood of innocent children on my hands.

    As surely as I know that I am, I know that this trend to devalue life is a direct result to people turning their back on God. A relationship with God and this kind of senseless behavior simply cannot coexist.

    Therefore, I beg good people everywhere to fall to their knees. Pray for our leaders, pray for your neighbors, pray for a healed country. Then live your life with the strength and conviction of a true disciple.