To many pictures like this too many times. Trying to imagine a panicked mom trying to get a hold of a child in a school that has an active shooter situation. Seeing the images of the kids coming out and going through the obvious drill of being searched and cleared and moved on is sad because they have obvious prepared for this a few times and children shouldn’t have to do that. But then I remember that we live in a world where hundreds of babies were murdered because Jesus was born and that the Savior of the world as a toddler was a political refugee.
We are all about connections and that is why this blog was started. There are so many connections between Minnesota North and North Dakota from the standpoint of our life together as church it is quite amazing. Yesterday I was as shocked as everyone at the shooting that took place at the school in Colorado. It seems like these happen there with a strange frequency. Columbine, Aurora and others are in the back of all of our minds when things like this happen. This school is not far from where my brother lives and as I watched the orderly evacuation of the kids I heard that they would be transferred to Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church to be picked up by parents.
Brad Stoltenow used to serve in Deer River and Squaw Lake, Minnesota. He was the circuit counselor there for several years and then he took a call to be Associate Pastor at Zion Lutheran Church in Bismarck, North Dakota. He has been in Centennial CO for quite a few years now. His associate Pastor is Greg Zillinger who was Pastor at Hannover North Dakota. They now serve as part of a large staff at Shepherd of the Hills.
I went to check their website and found a wonderful article by Jodie Stoltenow on the shooting that took place in Connecticut a year ago and it was strange to think that now they are also a part of this sad legacy. You can read it at http://shepherdhills-church.org/tag/connecticut-shooting/.
Anyway I am sure that the young people that came to Shepherd of the Hills received a great gift of support and comfort and a firm witness to Christ. Thank God for these folks and there is a reason they are where they are.
