A Biblical Response to Crisis and Tragedy

I received an email today from Andrew Lee, one of the World Impact missionaries in Chester, PA. He went to school at Tech and still has many friends there. I'd like to pass along his email because he shares some specific ways we can pray for those who are dealing with loss, as well as those who are ministering to the hurting.

From Andrew:

Dear Friends,

   I want to thank those of you who have emailed or asked how I was doing.  I appreciate your concerns.  I am doing fine.  Things are starting to slowly set in as to what happened and it's still pretty shocking to think of what happened in the context of Tech where I went to school.  A part of me wants to not think about it anymore, but another part wishes I could be down there with my friends.  But, that was not the reason for my email.

I spoke with my friends who are still on campus and some of my old friends who are off campus.  I also spoke with Pete Dorrell, who is the campus director for the Navigators at Tech, which was the ministry that I was a part of while I was down there.  I am emailing to ask that you continue to pray for them as they deal with this tragedy.  I have some specific requests from them that provides some insight to the situation as well.  Thank you for your prayers.

*Please continue to pray for the campus ministry leaders (such as Pete), they have a heavy burden on them ministering and counseling the people there.  I know that each family that lost someone has been assigned a campus minister to help them deal with the situation.  Pete tells me that the Navs are all accounted for, but some Navs know someone who was killed.  Pete has been meeting a lot of people the past few days and it'll most likely continue for the rest of the week.  I'm sure that it's tiring and draining on them.

*The Navs are sending in their trained counselors and will be available to help students grieve, especially next week when they return to school.  Please pray for leading during those times.

*Many students are leaving campus since classes have been cancelled for the week.  Pray for their time away so that they can start the healing process.

*Once school starts next week, there is only a few weeks left before summer break.  There has been some concern of what they can before the students go home for the summer and are isolated from the Tech community.  For some that would be a good thing, for others it may be difficult.  Pray for wisdom regarding that.

*As we can imagine there are hundreds of media people at Tech.  Please pray for sensitivity on the media's part towards those who are grieving.  It also makes it difficult for those who are trying to cope with this.

*Pray that God would be revealed on all that is doing.  In a tragedy such as this, the proper response is to show Christ's love.  I am encouraged to hear that many of my Navs friends are doing that as well as many of the other campus fellowships.  Pray for healing and comfort through His Spirit.

*Pray that the Lord would use this to draw people to Him in understanding that this world is evil, but that He is good. 

*And finally, please pray as the Spirit leads.  I'm sure there are many other prayer requests out there that are too many to list.

Thank you all and God bless.

Andrew