Atrocities in which innocent people are murdered, especially when children are killed, understandably make people very angry. On 20 April 1999 there was a massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado, when two twelfth-grade students murdered twelve students and one teacher. Twenty-one others were injured. Ten of the twelve students who died were in the school library, where the two murderers later committed suicide.

Craig Scott was a pupil at Columbine High School and was in the school library when the shooting took place. His 17-year-old sister Rachel was the first to be murdered. His friend Matt, who was studying in the library next to him, also died. The police told Craig that one of the gunmen had mocked Rachel’s Christian faith before shooting her. Craig recalls the terror as he cowered under a table, covered in blood, and witnessed Matt and another friend Isaiah being killed. Craig was consumed with anger and thought the Columbine shootings were an unforgiveable act.

Craig realised that he became more like the murderers as he focused on them and held onto his anger and hatred toward them. But then he was invited to take Rachel‘s place on a mission trip with an evangelical youth group in Africa. While ministering there in refugee camps, his hatred towards the gunmen was challenged by stories of suffering. In Africa Craig met a person who had lost 17 members of their family when their whole tribe was killed, but they still lived a life of forgiveness. He returned from the two months trip with new perspective on his problems.

Craig said, “I remember in Africa I began to really let go. I would literally take my emotion of anger in my hands as if it were a physical thing and I would just release it up to heaven, I would give it to God. I would have to do it again and again, especially as I saw the shooters’ faces on the news.”

Scott is now 41 and has spoken about his experiences at hundreds of schools and to thousands of people. He stresses the need to focus on life’s blessings. He says, “You don’t combat problems by just focusing on the problems, you combat problems by focusing on the solution, which is thankfulness and gratitude. There’s a time for emotion after something unjust happens in your life, but if you’re holding on to it for years and years you become a prisoner to unforgiveness. Forgiveness sets you free. It’s letting go of our right to be angry. It’s not just a one-time event it’s an attitude we embrace when through Jesus we are forgiven people.”