by Rebecca Barnes, editor 10 Dec 2007

Sunday’s violence at New Life Church in Colorado Springs and at the Youth With a Mission center in Arvada, Colo., have left a silence that is difficult to fill.

Police have found what appears to be a connection between the two events that left two teenage girls and two twenty-something missionaries in training dead. A deranged young man apparently went on a rampage against Christians who rejected him. That frightens me more than two random and senseless acts of violence committed by the sorts of deranged people that kill people in shopping malls in Omaha, Nebraska; on college campuses in Virginia; and at schools all over the country.

Random tragedy

Rev. Brady Boyd, who assumed the pastorate at New Life only a few months ago, following the scandalous downfall of Ted Haggard, said the shooting yesterday was another in an increasing list of random tragedies.

"It was just absolutely random," Boyd told ABC News.

The shooter, identified as a 24-year-old man from the suburban Denver area, was not a member at New Life. He was shot by a security volunteer at the church, then shot himself as well. New Life had increased its security after learning of the earlier shooting in Arvada. The link appears to have been the Youth With A Mission presence at New Life. Still random and senseless, however.

Is increased security the answer for malls, schools and now churches and missionary training centers?

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter asked for a million dollars more security after a shooting this past summer at the Capitol. A $1.6 million plan released in September includes metal detectors and increased state trooper presence. He made this statement to ABC News after Sunday’s incidents:

"Violent crimes of any sort are tragic enough, but when innocent people are killed in a religious facility or a place of worship, we must voice a collective sense of outrage and demonstrate a renewed commitment to keeping our communities safe." 

The real security

Wouldn’t it be nice if outrage and a renewed commitment, or a million dollars worth of security, was all it took to keep us safe? By its very nature, the reality of random violence is that it is impossible to predict or avoid altogether. However, it can be combated, not only with random kindness, but with deliberate, ongoing and purposeful love—even for our enemies. The other reality is that sometimes this sort of love is more difficult to show than outrage. But this love is also worth more than millions of dollars worth of security.

I liked the response of two church goers at New Life, who heard the shooting begin in the parking lot and stayed in their car and prayed for the gunman. "It was obvious that he was in some sort of pain and going through a lot," Ashley Gibbs told "Today." "I just prayed God would bring him peace."