Gun violence in Omaha hits too close to home

As many of you know, nine people were killed and five were injured today at Omaha’s Westroads Mall. A gunman walked in and started shooting. By the end, he took his own life. As yet it isn’t known whether this man had help, or acted alone. A live grenade was found at the mall last weekend. Whether the two incidents are connected is not yet known either. In any case, tis is a tragic day for the city Omaha.

Omaha is the city that I call home. In fact, I had apparently walked into Westroads Mall just minutes after the shooting began. Having stopped in to pick up an order from a mall store, the department store I had entered had just closed both its mall doors. An announcement sounded overhead that there had been and ‘incident’ and that the outdoor exits should be used. I quickly left the store but had difficulty leaving because of the sudden influx of police and emergency vehicles. In the hours to come, the death toll has risen dramatically. I’m still in a bit of shock over what has happen. Von Maur, the department where this violence occurred, is a favorite for my wife and I. Pictured above is an entrance we’ve used many times. We’re both waiting and wondering whether we will recognize any of the victims.

When I got home I watched the local television coverage with my wife. My kids are young and pretty well oblivious. I told my daughter that something bad had happened. She asked what had happened. I didn’t want t tell here where it happened, because that would have meaning for her. I told her that a bad man had hurt some people.

She asked “Are they OK?” I answered “No, they died.” to which she responded, “Did it hurt?” I told her that it probably did hurt. She wanted to know if the bad man got hurt. I told her that he had died, too.

I’ve written on the subject of violence before. With this terrible tragedy, hitting so close to home, in a store that my whole family frequents, I am prompted to explore the subject of discussing sin and death with our children. I don’t want to shield my children from this subject. They don’t need to know details, but I can hide this important topic from them.

This event is a proper occasion to tell your children, who are old enough (my daughter is 3 1/2 and pretty conversant) about death. Death is the consequence of sin (Rom 6:23) and all have sinned (Rom 3:23).

I followed up with my daughter by trying to explain death to her, being like going to sleep and not waking up. She wanted to know if they went to heaven. I said that some of them did, if they believed that Jesus took away the penalty for their sins of the cross. “Consequences” is the word we have come to use when we are trying to connect her discipline with God’s judgment. We discuss the fact that sins have consequences when we discipline our children. When we explain the gospel to our children, we explain that God never sins, and that to go to heaven, you cannot sin. We remind them that everyone has sinned and so nobody can go to heaven. Then we refer to their personal sin and point to Jesus as the way we can have our consequences taken away; that God put our consequences of Jesus on the cross.

Madison (my daughter) doesn’t put all the pieces together. Not yet. Her questions indicate that she grasps some of it, though. She even finished my presentation of the gospel by jumping to the idea of substitution. In her words “I have to give my consequences to Jesus on the cross.” On a dark day, I find that encouraging.

In the meantime, we are busily erecting the context in which the gospel will make sense. On such a dark day for our city, I praise God that it affords me an opportunity to tell others, like my children, about Jesus Christ. After all, none of us are more than a moment away from eternity. I hope that the murders will yield and opportunity to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the city of Omaha, not in judgment of the dead, but for the salvation of the living.