Out of character? Perhaps...

Resolve versus rhetoric: what would you do?

WWJD? What would be out of character, for him, or for me?

Yes, I played that card.

There has been a high volume of emotional response to the Connecticut tragedy, in both of the medias, the Industry and the Social. “Guns are the problem”. “Guns are not the problem”. Which is right? Does it really matter?

When you’re weary
Feeling small
When tears are in your eyes
I will dry them all

Simon and Garfunkel may have penned those words, but I can hear Jesus sing them just the same. In a hostile situation, what would Jesus do? I’m sure violent scenarios played out in first century Judea, with Roman occupation, poverty, bands of robbers, etc, and He may have been in the neighborhood at the time. Would Jesus have brandished a weapon to save the day? The Gospels do not tell us of such incidents, save Him disarming the band ready to stone the woman “caught” in adultery, and we know how that story played out.

WWJD? What would Jeff do? I own a firearm or two, neither of which I have ever fired. They were gifts from a friend. I’ve fired other weapons in the past while hunting, but have never really been a “gun guy”. So, the question, WWJD? What would Jeff do? I’m in a mall with my family, and someone starts shooting. Choosing to not have a permit and not have a gun strapped to my calf is defining point #1.

Paul said “to live is Christ and to die is gain”. If I believe that, and I believe my family and friends are ultimately in a better place in Heaven than here, what would I do? In the words of our mythical Star Trek friend, Lieutenant Worf, “perhaps this is a good day to die”.

Don’t get overly lost in the analogy, and I pledge to do the same. I believe Americans have the right to bear arms, among other things. But, I also believe we are ultimately citizens of a Kingdom far greater than The United States of America, and just like “Cowboy Worf” is out of character in the picture above, we might be the same as gun drawing followers of Jesus.

If faced with the choice, I would stand to defend or shield my family or friends, but if that is my time to be called home, and possibly theirs as well, then the gain will have been ours.

Like the song says:

I’m on your side
When times get rough
And friends just can’t be found
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

Who knows: Worf might have said it just the same…(and I promise, this picture was already on the web, and not of my own doing…)