Sarah Beckstrom has died. Andrew Wolfe continues to fight for his life.
Anger, desire for some kind of reckoning, and an inability to understand how something like this could happen are consuming many Americans right now – likely none more than the parents and families of Sarah and Andrew.
Sarah was just 20 years old. Andrew is 24. It feels unbearably unfair. What kind of world allows this?
A broken one. It really is that simple.
The rage directed at the Afghan national responsible is real. You can see it online; you probably heard traces of it around a few Thanksgiving tables. Pretending it doesn’t exist won’t make it go away. And the consequences that Afghani will ultimately face should in no way be mitigated. His act was evil.
But that anger also leads to hard questions – questions that deserve honest answers.
So where does that leave us in this moment as a young woman is dead and a young man fights for life? Here’s all I can offer.
Philippians 4 tells us not to be consumed by anxiety, not to worry about anything, but instead to bring our burdens before God with thanksgiving. In return, we are promised peace – a sense of comfort to endure. And right now, peace is something we desperately need in abundance.
There will be a time – soon – for serious questions about how this murderer came to be in our country. Those answers matter. They are necessary, and they should not be delayed. Investigations are ongoing.
But for now, the most important thing we can do for Sarah – may she rest; for Andrew – may he overcome; and for their families – is pray. If we can find even a measure of the peace Scripture promises, we’ll be in a stronger place to confront what comes next, and to determine how we prevent anything like this from happening again – to better serve these hurting families who are fellow West Virginians.
My hope is that, even in this tragedy, we can draw together as Americans – choosing to see what we share rather than what divides us. That’s a way to honor Sarah. It’s a way to support Andrew. They’ve done their part. Now it’s time we do ours.