USA (MNN) — An inquiry into the Uvalde elementary school shooting has begun behind closed doors. Nearly three weeks after the attack, the stories are still coming out of this small community in Southern Texas.
Official accounts keep changing on what actually happened when an 18-year-old gunman entered Robb Elementary School, killing 19 children and two teachers.
For example, authorities’ early reports said the gunman entered through a propped school door. The public was also initially told that responding officers “immediately breached” the shooter’s location in the school when they arrived. Neither of these turned out to be true.
Meanwhile, the Uvalde community is reeling from unspeakable tragedy.
Bible verses on a curb in Uvalde. (Photo courtesy of Child Evangelism Fellowship)
Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) works with children around the world to provide Gospel resources and biblical discipleship. CEF recently sent a team to Uvalde for street ministry and spiritual community care.
Although the weather was hovering around 99 degrees, the CEF team says people were out all over the city grieving and praying together.
One team member said, “I have never been in a community that was so open to the Gospel, the love of Christ, and had such a willingness to talk and pray with complete strangers.”
Another team member met a girl who crawled out a school window during the shooting. She was still in shock and not talking to anyone. The girl was with her mother and two friends. After some time talking with the CEF team member, they all gave their lives to Jesus — and for the first time, the girl’s whole countenance was changed.
The pastors of Uvalde also needed to share their burdens. Many carried the heavy responsibility of going to the hospitals where the shooting victims went. Seeing devastated survivors and the bodies of victims, breaking the horrific news to parents, spiritually supporting the community — it has all taken a traumatic toll.
CEF sat with these local pastors, listened to their stories, and prayed with them.
Others the team met with included emotional members of the media, family friends of the gunman, a man whose cousin was killed in the shooting, and a teacher from Robb Elementary. Every single person was spiritually supported and prayed over.
Lydia Kaiser, Corporate Communications Specialist with CEF says, “When tragedy strikes, people’s hearts are open like no other time. So this is the time to help them struggle with those questions like, ‘Why do bad things happen in the world?’”
Do You Wonder Why, booklet by CEF. (Photo courtesy of Child Evangelism Fellowship)
That question is addressed in CEF’s booklet Do You Wonder Why. It’s a short, easy read with only 14 pages, but the content is deep and speaks to the emotional and spiritual wounds of children grappling with trauma.
Kaiser says, “It addresses the child’s fear and other emotions [and] helps them to verbalize questions about why God would let this happen. Does He see and hear? Can He comfort me? Can He help me through this? [It] also presents the Gospel and pulls all that together. It’s a fantastic tool.”
CEF’s Do You Wonder Why has been translated into 54 languages, and 12 million copies have been distributed around the world.
The ministry already had 5,000 copies of Do You Wonder Why printed one month prior in Texas. The team took 20,000 more booklets in English and Spanish with them to distribute. Kaiser says the ministry team “handed them out to churches and first responders and did street walking and talking to people.” They ultimately ran out of booklets.
Uvalde — like the rest of the United States — is desperate for hope in this heartbreaking time.
Please pray for the survivors and the families who have lost loved ones in Uvalde. Pray that they would sense the Lord’s presence and comfort in their immense grief. Pray for healing for the school children who were traumatized in the shooting. Ask God to continue opening hearts and conversations to seek Gospel hope.
Click here to learn more about CEF’s ministry.
Header photo of Texas flag, courtesy of Pete Alexopoulos via Unsplash.
