I’m writing this in the aftermath of another senseless loss of life. As I woke up to the news of the sheer devastation in Las Vegas, my heart dropped harder than I ever could have imagined. It seems every time another tragedy strikes, it hurts harder and deeper. I’ve been in the Church for 32 years, and I found myself this morning asking questions like…

• Where is God?
• Does He even care?
• Why would God allow this?
• Why would anyone put their hope in a God who allows this to happen?
• Is God even real?
• Where’s the resurrection life we were promised?

That last one kept rolling through my head…

I’m always talking to students about the death and resurrection and how Christ has invited all of us to be participants in the resurrection. Christ has paved a pathway to new life through the shedding of his blood on the Cross. That’s the good news! It’s good news because death doesn’t get the final say! Resurrection does!

But…

…why does it feel like resurrection isn’t coming or happening?

It’s hard to turn on the news today and not feel like humanity is simply taking one fatal blow after another. In fact, the literal death rate due to horrifying situations seems to increase on a weekly basis. All this death is coming at us so hard and fast that it gets a bit difficult to breath because we never get a moment to catch our breath.

So how do we, as youth leaders, realistically talk about the resurrection life God has invited us into when all we ever see is death?

The truth is, none of us have all the answers necessary to the questions our students are asking every day. But you do have something incredibly vital.

You have you.

You have your story.

You have your life.

You get the opportunity to, with your own life, demonstrate how Christ has brought about resurrection in you! I believe students are watching us (youth leaders) incredibly closely as we ourselves navigate this world full of death. They’re watching how we handle things and how we grapple with these disturbing situations.

Our students are looking to us for hope. With our lives, we have the opportunity to show them that we are not the hope, but rather, our hope comes from the One who actually brings about resurrection.

As we continue to experience this broken world, we get to demonstrate to students with our lives that all this death doesn’t have the final say! Christ does! And Christ can and will bring resurrection!

RYAN SCHMALL is the Student Ministries Pastor at Redding First Church of the Nazarene in Northern California. He is married to his wife Jeanette, and together they have three amazing girls. Ryan is passionate about creating experiences and environments for people to encounter God in new and unique ways. You can follow him on TWITTER or read his blog over at IAMRYANSCHMALL.TUMBLR.COM.