Like many people this weekend, you were probably checking
newsfeeds for more updates about the Century 16 Massacre. You were horrified, sickened,
heart-sick. We were, too. We live in Aurora.
When we woke up Friday morning, we saw the reports. We took many calls, instant messages, emails
from friends and family asking if we were okay… or making sure we weren’t at
that movie premiere. Of course we
weren’t there, but 33 people from our church (Calvary Chapel Aurora) were… a
few people from my job were there… So even if we weren’t there, we were NOT
okay. We were worried.
As we sat at our kitchen table listening to our children
play blissfully unaware, my husband and I were overcome with a myriad of
emotions. Our hearts ached for the
victims, for their families, for the first responders. We vacillated between anger and disbelief
that this happened in our city, in a theater in which we had seen movies,
too. We repeatedly looked at our
children, thanking God for them when we knew that at least one family had lost
a 6-year-old. Our neighbors and friends
felt the same way. We talked about how
crazy it all was. How awful.
Our church pastoral staff was already mobilizing to help the
victims. They were at hospitals. They were helping the people that had
gathered at Gateway High School to learn the fate of their missing loved ones. Our church was already preparing for funerals
and readying the staff for grief counseling.
Our pastor broke into regular programming on 89.7 Grace FM to take calls
from anyone affected so they would have an outlet and could get prayer if they
wanted it.
Our church was not the only one doing this. All the area churches were. Hospitals, charities, businesses. Our community was moving. It was trying to put a bandage on the gaping
wound that was the Century 16 Theater.
As the day unfolded we learned more and more. Thankfully,
all the people from our church escaped unscathed. When I say unscathed, I mean it in the
physical sense. They are forever changed
by the events in that theater, as we all are.
We learned that my co-workers were wounded, but were alive. We learned that our friends in the medical
field were exhausted but had carried on valiantly.
We listened to the dispatch recording of the first
responders. They were on the scene
within 90 seconds and had apprehended the suspect in under 5 minutes. Police took him without a shot, by the way. They shouted out locations, gave stats on
victims, secured the area, transported victims when ambulances couldn’t get
there fast enough. They were the real heroes.
That night, we tried to go about our lives as normally as
possible. We sought out the fellowship
of some dear friends and broke bread with them.
We tried to laugh. We tried to
lift each other up. We talked about how
we could help with our church’s efforts and made plans to attend the vigil on
Sunday. We watched our children laughing
and giggling, full of life, and we were so thankful for them.
My husband and his friend went to the vigil on Sunday. He said it was beautiful and reflective. He also said that our wonderful Aurora PD put
the crazy Westboro Baptist folks SO FAR out of the way that the vigil attendees
didn’t even know they were there. Our
heroes yet again.
The overwhelming mantra was “We Will Remember”. And we will.
We will carry on. We will come
alongside the survivors and help them heal.
We will minister to the families of those that lost loved ones. We are Aurora, Colorado.
