Is There Enough Love?

"There is not enough love in this world."

I recently said this at work to a co-worker after he told me about a man he went to church with who died in a house fire.  He was in his 40's and left behind three small children.  Beautiful children.  the church is doing what it can.  Memorial funds have been set up for these children who had a father one minute and did not have a father the next. 

Two events have in my lifetime have caused me to yearn for the time when Jesus will return and fix what is desperately broken in this world. 

I was in college at the University of Montevallo when two crazy people leveled the Federal Courthouse in Oklahoma City.  There is a picture of a fireman carrying the lifeless body of a toddler out of the carnage.  This image is seared into my brain. 

 

I was in seminary at Beeson Divinity School when several crazy people flew planes into the World Trade Centers.  Again I wanted Jesus to come back right then.  I was glued to the TV for days.  The images of people jumping out of the windows to escape the flames haunt me still.

 

 

 

Today someone set bombs to explode at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.  As I write this the death toll is at 3 with more than 100 injured. 

 

Is there enough love to cover this?  I don't know.  But there is hope.

 

A video captured the first explosion.  You can see one of the runners go wobbly and fall down.  This man is 78 years old and was about to finish running a marathon.  That's 26 miles.  I get sweaty driving 26 miles.  This 78 year old man was about to finish when he was knocked down. 

 

 

There are two rays of hope in this picture.  As people are fleeing the explosion there are people running toward it.  And not just policemen and first responders.  There are ordinary people who went toward harm to help people. 

 

This 78 year old man got up and finished the race.  He was knocked down.  He got back up.  He finished the race. 

 

In Hebrews 12:1-2 Paul wrote about a scene prescient the picture above. 

 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

 

This man got up and finished the race.  At least that is the story today. 

 

There is hope in this story because people rushed into a situation not knowing if there were more explosions coming.  They rushed in to help the helpless.  This is the image of Christ who for the joy of saving me rushed headlong to the cross and all that went with it.  For me.  For you. 

 

There is hope in this story because a man got up and finished the race set before him.  The second before the bombs went off there were people at the finish line whose sole purpose was to cheer the people who were finishing the race.  The runners who were finishing were surrounded by people cheering them on to the finish.  The race had been decided 2 hours before.  The people crossing at this point were merely finishing what they had started. 

 

The people who were behind at this point did not get to finish the race but I have heard many have pledged they will finish. 

 

The Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11 caused me to call for Jesus to step down and call the race. 

 

Is there enough love?  Can that love cover what happened today and what is surely going to happen if Jesus tarries?  Probably not.  But I have hope because my eyes, however imperfectly they may focus, are fixed on Jesus.  He's crossed the finish line.  He waits there for me.  There is hope.  He has enough love for all of us.