The tragic events in Paris with Princess Di and her companions have left the world reeling.

    There is the shock. How could this happened to someone who lives in the protected class—bodyguards, chauffeurs, expensive cars, and luxurious lifestyle? The first reaction of many has been, “It just made me realize it can happen to anybody.”

    There is the tragedy. This is such a tragic event for William and Harry who will finish growing up without their mother and who will have to live out their grief like so much of the rest of their life, in the public spotlight. There is the tragic loss of a bright young woman who had an irrepressible ability to capture our hearts and champion the cause of society's forgotten.

    There is the shame. All the things bad of our time cluster together —

• drunken driver destroying the lives of others
• dysfunctional family passing on to future generations their own problems
• his adulteries, her adulteries and all the intrigues of the palace
• the insatiable quest of the paparazzi to get another picture or another tiny morsel of tasty sleaze for the voracious appetites of those addicted to gossip and slander

    This horrible nightmare, this anti-fairy tale with its tragic end, is a powerful reminder of our world’s need for redemption.

God never gives us discernment in order that we may criticize, but that we may intercede. — Oswald Chambers. Leadership-Vol. 16, #1.

    We are called to be salt and light—to refuse to participate in the vomitous gossip and innuendo that surrounds the rich, famous, and popular. Without a voracious audience, there would be no place to market the sleaze purveyed by those who steal all dignity and privacy from the well known.

    We are called to pray for those who lives have been shattered by this experience whether they are rich, famous, Muslim, Christian, or unknown, forgotten, wayward. Each of those lost in this tragedy leaves behind a wake of broken hearts and lives forever shattered. More than wringing our hands or pronouncing our platitudes, we should pray for those families that God’s healing and redemptive power can be used to touch hearts that might otherwise be unreachable.

    We are reminded that this world is not our home. We’re here to grace it and bless it, not use it and despoil it. All any of us has is one lifetime. All the riches, wealth and fame in the world won’t protect us from the demons of self-destruction, abandonment, betrayal, and our own fragile mortality. Ultimately the only thing we have here that is eternal is the love we share in Jesus and the people we share it with. We’re here to help each other light the way out of the long dark tunnel and find safety on the other side.