There Will Come a Day

Lotus Blossom, Monet Exhibit, New York Botanical Gardens, Bronx, NY

Copyright 2012:  singeronthesand

 

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. 

There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, 

for the old order of things has passed away.

Revelation 21:4

 

CNN Online reported a heart-rending story this morning.  A young girl, playing in her mother's lap inside her home, is suddenly struck by a bullet out of nowhere, bursting through the frosted glass window on the family balcony, piercing the child's cheek and knocking out one of her teeth.  She cries for her mother, and then is silent, blood pouring from her mouth.

 

A neighbor grabbed the child, flagged down a passing truck, and tried to race toward the hospital. The traffic was beyond terrible, and the neighbor transfered the child from the truck to a car carrying two reporters, the girl choking and gurgling blood in the back seat.  When they finally reached the hospital, the doctors wheeled her into the emergency room and began to work on her face.  The bullet had passed cleanly through one cheek, but ripped up the other one. The little girl was breathing more easily, but she could not receive the surgery she needed at that hospital, so the decision was made to take her across the front lines to a bigger government hospital.  She was piled into a truck and disappeared into the streets.

 

Back home the parents were calm.  They believed their child was getting the best care.  The reporters returned to their business, but curiosity about the girl's condition caused them to return the next morning.  They were met with news on the street:  the little girl had died.  She had been taken to two different government hospitals where doctors tried to help her but failed.  After her death, it was discovered that the bullet had lodged inside her throat. 

 

It is difficult to understand a world where a four-year-old's life can be swept away by a sniper's bullet.  So much of our planet is inundated in violence and war of every description and size.  The value of human life does not count for much on today's scale of importance.  A day is coming, however, when tears and pain and death will be swept away - when God will make a clean sweep of sin and darkness and create all things new.  It is a day I am looking forward to.