The Murderers

If you have been paying any attention to Portland area news, and even national news, you're familiar with what happened in Tualatin on Tuesday. Robert Beiser entered a hospital office in Tualatin and shot and killed his wife, Teresa, along with himself.

These stories are always sad and for the most part disturbing when you get in to the core of it. Not only did Beiser kill his wife, but he injured multiple people and created quite the scare in a normally somewhat safe neighborhood. The shooting happened not more than a mile away from my work and home church, Rolling Hills Community Church. Many of the area schools were shut down, and in my talks with the people in the community over this last week, it seems as though people have been shaken up quite a bit.

This shooting had a motive, there's no doubt. Beiser's friends and neighbors described him as a "Jekyll and Hyde" who kept to himself sometimes but lashed out when the couple started their legal separation. He was on edge, and in seemingly unearthly hurt. Abuse began at the separation and Teresa explained to friends that she felt trapped. He even told her he was going to buy and gun and kill her. The ultimate tragedy became a reality on Tuesday morning right before noon.

But as a minister to that community, I think about the root issues of the events in the community. Whether it is a new shopping mall that storms in, or a horrific shooting, I am constantly looking past the physicality of everything that happens. It is something you learn as you hear from your people.

The fact that a guy can get a gun is not that big of a deal, but his mental and in my opinion, spiritual state, is what concerns me deeply.

I couldn't stop thinking about it.

This man was existing, hurting, and living in our own community. I would say that about once every other month, I get this experience. I realize who is really in our community, who is really walking through our doors. As a large church, we get plenty of church shoppers and visitors who just drop in and drop out. It is a sobering reminder of the seriousness of our work.

I have such strong faith in Jesus Christ, such assurance in His power, that I am certain that this city can see violence and abuse disintegrate by the furthering of the transforming gospel of Jesus Christ.

I don't want you to think about if your children are safe or not, or about gun control laws, I want you to think about Robert Beiser. This is a rare case where one of these gunmen showed signs of hostility. Last week, when a 39-year-old Army psychiatrist opened fire in Fort Hood, Texas, his neighbors hailed him as one of the nicest men you would ever meet. Caring and loving, they said. Beiser, before the separation with his wife, was just a quiet guy, and was said to just be "gliding along."

These people are real, created in the image of God to be renewed by Christ for the glory of the Creator. 1 Thessalonians tells us that humanity was not made for wrath, but for salvation. However, this doesn't happen for everyone due to the war that wages in your heart that you yourself feel.

Countless times, I fail to realize the gravity that God places in my life. Far too often, people become background characters to my story. I, personally, fail and have failed in massive ways regarding this very topic.

I'm not naive enough to say we could have prevented anything. Stuff happens. Bad things happen. But you have to wonder. When things like this happen you have to stop and think about your own life and those in it. Or maybe I just do. I know I need this.

I think that a huge failure amongst Christians is to let serious things like this just pass them by. They happen, and we just continue on in our Bible study, keep praying for us instead of those who knew Beiser and those affected by the shooting. We don't discuss the theological implications or what the Bible would say about this type of thing. It's easier to just buy something and forget about it.

God help us.