There are many things that can – and I'm sure will – be written about the Virginia Tech murder rampage. Stories about how colleges and universities love those foreign student tuition dollars. Stories about how Virginia Tech denied the right of self-defense, implicit in the Second Amendment of the Constitution, to students and staff. Stories about how the school ignored the warning signs of a killer in their midst. And stories about the bravery – such as the 76-year-old Jewish Holocaust survivor who sacrificed his life for his class. Stories from wounded victims and parents grieving over murdered children.

But for the moment, I want us to think about what Virginia Tech might be telling us about where we are on the roadmap between history past and history future. I'm reminded of the big arrow and dot on the map, with the caption "You are here" for the disorientated visitor.

The name of God has been invoked many times by those dealing with this brutal tragedy. In some cases by those who know Him well. In others, by those who have no desire to know Him. But I wonder if perhaps in our travels as a nation, and even more broadly as that culture known as the West, if it might not be time to pull off to the side of the road, stretch our legs and unfold the roadmap over the hood of the car. It may be that we need to think about where we've been, where we're going and where we are now. Let's draw a circle and an arrow at our present location and write below it in big letters, "You are here."

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God offers many roadmaps that depict mankind's progression in the Bible. That book tells the story of our flight from God, His Pursuit and our ultimate destination. Unfortunately, God's roadmaps don't have the normal scale-of-miles legend we are accustomed to seeing on the maps we create. That is to say, God doesn't stamp April 16, 2007, Anno Domini, on the map for us.

One of those roadmaps that God left folded up in the back seat of the Bible is very short. You may know it as Psalm 2. In that little narrative, God describes the result of a nation or culture attempting to free itself from God's rule and law as articulated in the Bible.

Perhaps it is a culture where pedophilia, homosexual couplings and adulterous behavior are deemed the mark of a good shepherd of the sheep. A culture, perhaps, that no longer wishes to base its laws upon God's laws, but has chosen to rely on its own understanding. A culture which has come to accept that those who find the Cross of Christ offensive should dictate the moral sensitivities and public place of religion in the life of the nation.

Just after that circle and arrow on the roadmap of Psalm 2, God gives His response. You will remember, perhaps, God's agony and heartbreak at these actions.

Well, in case you don't remember, let's take a look. It's right here:

"He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision."

That's right: God's reaction to mankind's attempt to free itself from His rule is hilarious laughter!

"Derision" is not a common word. It's a good, 14th century, Middle English word. It has a very specific meaning:

"Ridicule, mockery, contemptuous or jeering laughter."

As I look as Psalm 2, I find myself wondering: Has God drawn a big circle around the word "derision"? Has He put an arrow underneath it? And is there a caption written beneath the photos from Virginia Tech with the words, "You are here" to describe the events of the time in which we live?

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