On Monday, April 16th, Virginia Tech Engineering Professor Liviu Librescu, 
   after hearing gunshots, closed his classroom door and barricaded it with his 
   body while he urged his students to jump to safety from the second story 
   classroom window. Even though shots were being fired through the door and 
   in the end Librescu would have suffered five shots, he held the door until 
   the last student escaped. The door was then opened and Liviu Librescu was 
   killed.

On Sunday the 22nd during worship, in a sermon about “The Calling Jesus,” we 
discussed the nature of God who continues to call humans to be his instruments 
on earth. During this conversation, I used Librescu as an example and asked, 
“Who told him to hold the door last Monday?”  Jesus said, “No greater love 
hath anyone than to lay down his life for a friend.” 

Librescu, a Holocaust Survivor, knew about fighting injustice, knew about 
suffering, and on April 16th carried out action that many of us would only 
dream of doing. I do believe the media has it right when they call Liviu 
Librescu a hero, but I also believe it was only through his Faith in God 
that he was able to hold on to that door. 

It was reported that some twenty students were able to scramble out to safety 
through the window that day. In the midst of tragedy and Evil, God is always 
present with His Steadfast Love. Note: Liviu, age 76 and an Israeli-American 
was killed in Blacksburg, VA on Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day,) 
a holiday celebrated around the world.             
        
Psalm 46  (Words of Comfort)
                1 God is our refuge and strength, 
                         an ever-present help in trouble. 
                2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way 
                         and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 
                3 though its waters roar and foam 
                         and the mountains quake with their surging.
                4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, 
                         the holy place where the Most High dwells. 
                5 God is within her, she will not fall; 
                         God will help her at break of day. 
                6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; 
                         he lifts his voice, the earth melts. 
                7 The LORD Almighty is with us; 
                         the God of Jacob is our fortress. 
                8 Come and see the works of the LORD, 
                         the desolations he has brought on the earth. 
                9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; 
                         he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, 
                         he burns the shields with fire. 
                10 “Be still, and know that I am God; 
                         I will be exalted among the nations, 
                         I will be exalted in the earth.” 
                11 The LORD Almighty is with us; 
                         the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Please continue to pray for the people of Virginia Tech and their families.


                        Joy and Peace ~ 
                                        Rev. Tommy Wilkes