Columbine

Posted on April 23, 2009 12:00 AM MST by Sara Richardson

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 50:20

This week marked the tenth anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings. I grew up in Littleton, attended high school a few miles away from Columbine, and I still live in the same area today. I’ve heard personal accounts of being trapped inside the school for hours. I’ve heard many of the victim’s families speak candidly about their losses, their struggles, their healing. When most people around the world think of the Columbine High School Massacre, they think of death, destruction, tragedy. But we know better. In Littleton, we think of courage and triumph and hope.

On April 20, 1999 I was sophomore at a college over 1,000 miles away from home. I remember coming back to my apartment after class, getting a phone call from a friend at school. She told me what was unfolding on television, and I kept telling her it wasn’t my town. There was no way. Things like that didn’t happen in Littleton, Colorado.

But then I turned on the television and saw for myself. Glimpses of the high school where I had attended prom just two years earlier. Glimpses of the park where I’d grown up rollerblading and hanging out with friends and playing soccer. I quickly rushed to the phone and dialed my parent’s number. All circuits were busy. I started to cry, pleading with God to protect those students, teachers, everyone who was living their worst nightmare. I prayed for my brother, who was under lockdown in a high school a few miles away.

At that time no one on the news knew anything. Were the gunmen still inside the school? Were they moving on to another target? Maybe my brother’s school? I watched the images that made Columbine famous—crying, bleeding students running out of the school with their hands on their heads—and I searched for the faces of those students I knew.

It took at least 20 tries for me to get through to my parents’ house. My sister answered the phone sobbing. Neither of us could say much. She hadn’t heard from my brother. That was in the days before everyone carried a cell phone to school.

For the rest of the day, I could only watch and pray. It felt like the whole world was out of control. How could this happen? Why did God allow it? When would it end?

I imagine the Joseph of the Old Testament felt the same way when his brothers tried to kill him, then decided to sell them into slavery. It wasn’t right! How could God allow such suffering? How could God allow evil men to succeed? But even after he experienced betrayal and  heartbreak, God directed Joseph’s steps. Protected him. Brought him through. And when he was reunited with his brothers years later, Joseph forgave them and made that incredible statement in Genesis 50:20.

I have heard many of those Columbine students say essentially the same thing as Joseph. “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

That’s the real message in the Columbine High School massacre. Despite the pain and grief and loss, evil didn’t win that day. Evil never wins. The community came together. The church stepped up. Lives were saved. People were changed. I think that’s what the community of Littleton wants the rest of the world to know. We are stronger and more compassionate. Wiser. Braver. Many of us will never be the same, but we weren’t created to stay the same.  We understand sorrow, but we also understand the power of hope.

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