Still learning from Columbine

My new (to me) favorite site Get Religion, dealing with the intersection of faith and the press, brings back up memories of the Columbine massacre in talking about the memorial that recently opened.

Anytime I'm reminded of Columbine, I'm simply amazed at the faith of the teenagers involved. These youth had their faith tested in the ultimate crucible and it brought out praise to God. The reason they could stand strong on that day is because they had stood strong for Christ on the day before and the week before and the month before. Their lives were consistent examples of Christ, so much so that the shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, made reference to "Rachel" Scott in their pre-rampage video. You can find the newspaper quote of what they said at the above link. It contains newspaper substitutions for expletives they hurled at this young lady.

Rachel's last words, as a gun was pointed at her and she was asked if she believed in God, were: “You know I do!” And they did know. They had seen her. They had heard her say, "I love Jesus." They had seen her live out Christ on a daily basis. Rachel paid for her faith with more than her death. She wrote exactly one year before her murder:

I have no more personal friends at school. But you know what? I am not going to apologize for speaking the name of Jesus, I am not going to justify my faith to them, and I am not going to hide the light that God has put into me. If I have to sacrifice everything I will. I will take it.

I can learn so much from Rachel. She understood what it was all about - Jesus. She had no idea that she would become nationally known because of her faith through her death. She was simply living out a life of radical obedience to Christ. She followed Him to the cross and "drank of the cup." Her physical death was only the culmination of a life of consistently dying to her self in order to glorify God.

[Ed. It was brought to my attention that the point of the post, the consistent courageousness of Rachel in the face of demonic opposition, was obscured to some by my quoting the newspaper quote of what the killers said on their video. It included the standard newspaper style of substituting dashes for every letter except for the first on expletives.

By using the newspaper standard, I was not in any way condoning or glorifying the language used by the killers, it was just that - language used by two killers who were clearly satanically influenced. But if Rachel's lifestyle gets overlooked in this post because of the words used by the killers then the point of my post is lost, so for that reason I have went back in and taken out the quote completely. (Originally today, I had replaced the words with [EDIT], but thought it best to remove the entire quote.)

If you were offended, I apologize. If anyone ever has any issue with anything I write here or have written, please email me (wardrobedoor@gmail.com) directly. I believe scripture is clear on how we should bring issues to our brothers and sisters. I hope you will find that I will act in a Christ-like manner by listening to your thoughts and responding accordingly.]