BLACKSBURG, VA (ANS) -- As we approach the three-year anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre, school alumnus, area pastor and speaker Jim Pace draws from his firsthand experience of the 2007 tragedy to help others understand why God sometimes allows life to go terribly wrong in his upcoming book, “Should We Fire God? Finding Hope in God When We Don’t Understand.”

Book Cover

The massacre was the worst campus shooting in history and left 33 people dead.

According to a news release, as a pastor at New Life Christian Fellowship (NLCF) at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., Pace found himself catapulted into the media spotlight on April 16 2007.

He was interviewed on practically every major news network to address the big issues and tough questions of faith that people around the nation were asking. They included, “Why did God allow this to happen?” “What point could there be in violence that seems without reason?”

In “Should We Fire God?” Pace recounts the details of the Virginia Tech crisis along with his own battle to understand faith to explain why God allows devastation to occur.

The book clarifies God’s true role in people’s lives, especially during times of pain and grief, and emphasizes the pain God feels when individuals suffer.

“The really sticky issues for me have always dealt with why a God who claims to be capable, loving, and aware could allow such suffering to occur for so long,” Pace writes in “Should We Fire God?”

He adds, “Difficult questions about God’s job performance come at us in the midst of lives that are raging at full speed, and I believe God would honestly like to interact with us about them.”

While the book deals with the tough questions of faith that plague society, Pace provides a hope and clarity to skeptical readers who may wonder if God is really fit for the job of being God in the chaos of our world today. He seeks to help individuals understand that God is in control and should not be fired.

“The realization that, while we won’t be offered a pass on the suffering that our beautiful and broken planet levels at us all, we can be sure the God who originally created this world to be so much more than it is now, is lovingly and fully connected to us and with us through it all,” Pace writes in “Should We Fire God?”

Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren writes in the foreword, “Jim Pace offers helpful insights on the age-old question of God's role in human pain ... Jim shows how the Bible answers these kinds of situations. The answers are clear, he says, but they are often not what we expect or desire."

Warren adds, "The fact is, no one is immune to pain or insulated from suffering. But God is there to provide real comfort and hope no matter what we face in this life. He uses even tragedy for our growth and his glory, when we give Him all the pieces. While God may seem absent, He is never really gone.”

According to the news release, today Pace serves as a leader in the Ecclesia Network, a group of churches that discuss and learn from the emerging church. In addition to frequently speaking around the nation on topics such as the Gospel and social justice, leadership development and tough issues of faith, he also continues to serve as a co-pastor at NLCF, encouraging many still struggling with the aftermath of the 2007 tragedy.

“I do not know when people will be over what happened here in Blacksburg or other terrible events that we have witnessed in the past and will no doubt see in the future,” the news release reported Pace said. “What I do know is that as we walk through our present with events like this in our past, we learn to turn our hearts to God and not away.”

“Should We Fire God? Finding Hope in God When We Don’t Understand” will be released April 8 from FaithWords. For additional information, visit www.jimpace.org. 

Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is "Now You See Me." Additional details on some of Reynalds' previous books are available at http://www.HomelessBook.com. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at jeremyreynalds@comcast.net. Tel: (505) 400-7145.