Alex Pretti

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me…excerpt from the 23 Psalm.

This is a Psalm the whole world knows. It’s found in the Old Testament which means it is known by Jews, Christians and Muslims. This psalm is thought to have been written by one wrongly accused. He sits at a table which is waited on by the shepherd—the Lord. He may indeed be eating his last meal. Yet goodness and mercy surround him as the Shepherd fulfills his deepest hope of living in his presence forever.

I can only imagine these to be the last thoughts of Alex Pretti, a man I never heard of until yesterday. Ironic that his life would be taken by the very kind of people he cared for working at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Taking his life with such ease that none of the seven men who were involved shed a tear or stopped shooting soon enough to give hope to his recovery. They and those they worked for put together patchwork myths to cover their wrongdoing. Wrongly accused as was the Psalmist.

Gen 4:5 Cain said to Abel his brother, “Let us go out to the field…Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him…The Lord said, …where is your brother?”

And like the men who killed Alex Pretti, Cain denied the truth without a shred of sorrow, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” And the Lord said, “Now you are cursed.” The deceptions and lies enraged the people of Minneapolis and Minnesota and much of the country. Tears were shed, memorials were formed on the street.

Yet as tragic as this story is, the sorrow is much deeper. For Mr. Pretti’s death raised our thoughts of revenge. An “eye for an eye” ran through my mind.

Leviticus 24:20 The evil I saw via video after video on the streets of Minneapolis runs through my blood and the blood of many, maybe yours. These men, like Cain, will no longer sleep a restful sleep. They, like Cain, are cursed by their own doing. We need to own our own sinful nature and pray for Alex, his family and for the men who perpetrated the sin lest we become as they. Pray for our Nation.

Matthew 5:44-45. Read it!

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