So we're in the middle of exams, but that's not really worth mentioning - save the fact that they are the easiest exams of life and I can't believe that I spent an entire semester in France just to take such short exams. (The French only have exams out of 20 marks.)
Yesterday a few friends arrived from Canada and Sara was going to go meet them under the Eiffel Tower and I was going to meet them afterwards at Notre Dame. I got a text from Sara saying that they still hadn't shown up (like 30-45 minutes after they should have) and so I headed out to keep her company at the Eiffel Tower. Of course, chance would have it that as soon as I got there, I got another text saying that they were on their way to Notre Dame. So I hopped on the RER and got to Notre Dame before they did.
I waited. And people-watched. And waited. And pigeon-watched. And waited. I make it sound like I was there longer than I was, but I waited about 30 minutes and got one more text saying that they were going to be late. So I waited and heard the super annoying sounds of an ambulance siren. You think it's bad in Canada? Try those in Europe! You expect it to fade after a few seconds, but this siren got louder and louder and the ambulance pulled up in front of Notre Dame where I was waiting. Three men got out and cut in front of the super long line of people waiting to go into Notre Dame and the next thing I know, the gates are closed and everyone inside of Notre Dame is evacuated. Guess we were going to go into Notre Dame that day after all. I finally spotted the girls and it was wonderful to see Stephie again after so long! I sadly only got to spend a half hour with them before running up the street to my phonetics class.
I went to Shailene and Cheryl's place after to study some more and while I was there we got a phone call from Erin. Someone shot themselves in Notre Dame. .................................. It was one of those frozen moments. If the girls had been on time today, we would have been in there when it happened. Who knows what we might have seen and experienced. No one else was killed, but the horrid thought remains. We read up on it online and learned that a 78 year old man (who was against homosexual marriage - a huge debate that has been a news item and street demonstration topic all semester) had gone into Notre Dame, laid a note on the altar and took his life. They still had mass yesterday evening, not 4 hours after this happened.
So what do we do with this? My gut reaction was to pray. God, thank You that the girls were late and we didn't have to see or hear this happen. God, this sucks. People commit suicide in Paris everyday - on the metro, at the Eiffel Tower.. - and the news doesn't even make the slightest mention about it. God, Your world and Your people are broken and it has somehow become so normal that people don't bat an eye at a new story. God, how on earth are we supposed to help, make a difference, change it?! God, Your heart must be so broken. God, please show us how to go forward. And please, God, please don't ever let these stories just become another story that we hear about, say "That's horrible," and then move on. If we truly want You to break our hearts for what breaks Yours, then please show us what to do about all this, or at least, Holy Spirit, what to pray about. And God, thank You for Your timing and for making us wait.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment