Six seconds and it was over.

Six seconds that ended three lives.

Six seconds that we can’t relive.

Six seconds that changed hundreds, maybe thousands of lives.

Six seconds.

A usual, run-of-the-mill, communion service at a North Texas church was abruptly ended with an eternal sense of finality.

A raggedly disguised man opened fire on the congregation, killing two before a church security guard ended his life.

The disgruntled shooter had a criminal rap sheet and had frequented the church for money and received food instead. Church members said he would accept the food while perturbed at the group’s unwillingness to give money. Apparently, violence was his vehicle of choice to settle his resentment.

In the conservative media, the security guard was hailed as a hero while the progressive media focused more on the prevalence of guns in our violent society and besmirched the church’s policy of distributing food rather than money to the impoverished. For the record, many churches have the same policy, not wanting money to be spent on drugs and alcohol.

I know because I served as pastor of two churches that had the same policy myself. Thinking back, maybe that policy isn’t the best.

However, in this incident, I didn’t see heroes, villains, and victims. I didn’t see it from any of the usual agenda-driven story-lines. I chose, intentionally, to ignore them and instead focus on Christ.

I saw something else entirely.

I saw an epic tragedy that is the result of living in a fallen world.

Tragic for the families who lost someone they loved. This includes the family of the shooter.

But I saw a worse tragedy.

Jesus’ words in the garden kept ringing in my ears like the echo of gun blast on unprotected ears. “Put your sword back in its place because all who take up a sword will perish by a sword.” (Matthew 26:52, HCSB) He said this to Peter, immediately after this disciple had taken matters of securing our Savior into his own hands and flayed the ear of the high priest’s slave from his head.

This tragedy sharpened my understanding of what Jesus meant, or at least I think it did. When we take a human life, our impact isn’t temporal, it’s eternal. Killing the shooter, if the shooter wasn’t in Christ, sealed not only his temporal fate, but his eternal fate as well.

Now, don’t misunderstand, I’m not excusing the shooter’s actions. He brought this on himself.

But he also imposed this on the folks in that Church as well. Fallen human beings shouldn’t be called upon to be judge, jury, and executioner. Yet, this happens often because we live in a fallen world.

I told my wife that I didn’t know how I would respond in such a situation. Am I really willing to send someone into a Christ-less eternity in order to protect others who are headed into a Christ-filled one? I’ve grappled with that question for months and this dreadful circumstance has created more wrangling in my soul.

I still don’t have an answer that helps me sleep at night. I’ll probably grapple with this query for the rest of my days in this world.

“Excepted from my upcoming book, What He Said: Christ’s Sermon Confronting American Culture“