“Afterwhile, afterwhile,

This too shall pass, afterwhile.

Scars will heal, you’ll love again

It won’t hurt you, afterwhile.”

-- Kirk Franklin, performed by Yolanda Adams

I don’t know how they sleep. Memories of their little, happy babies dancing in their heads. Every corner turned there sits memory.

There have been enough accounts of the tragedy in Newtown, Conn. to last a lifetime. We will never know why Adam Lanza got to a place in his head where he could conceive of killing as many young people as possible who were no threat to him.

How do you sleep if you’re one of the parents who had life snatched -- not by accident -- but on twisted purpose?

There is only one way I know of to pull it all together, and it’s something we have to practice before evil walks into our lives. And evil certainly will. That’s what evil does.

We can’t wake up one day and suddenly trust in God. Oh, we can have epiphanies, but the Bible tells us to put on the “full armor of God.” Why? Because evil is after our happiness. It wants us to curse God.

Even in this misery, God was present. Lanza was not going to stop shooting -- all were at risk when the first responders stormed the school and Lanza decided to end his. He had done damage enough before he walked through the gates of Hell.

The question, “Why does God allows such tragedies” is a tough one. Is he trying to teach us a lesson? No. God loves us, but remember, he controls life and death. Those little angels are now protected from all hurt, harm and danger. It may sound trite, but they are in a better place, because they took leave of this Hell we call Earth.

The debates over this and that have already begun. There are those who want to put more laws in place to control guns -- and they will. Some will resemble common sense, but will only have a had-to-do-something effect.

There are roughly 310 million nonmilitary guns in our country as of 2009. There are, according to the Census Bureau, roughly 312 million people living here today. You do the math. The gun genie has been out of the lamp for a long time and won’t retreat.

What’s scary is the number of people who have mental health issues and are willing to take out their fantasies on an unsuspecting public. Will we go back to the days of the Wild, Wild West where everyone packs a piece? Would that make us feel safe? I doubt it.

When news of the shooting hit, the holiday spirit, was sucked right out of me. How could I think of sharing gifts at a time like this?

While I know God is always in control and will use this situation created by evil for good and his glory, I’m human. I’m not wise enough to know how he will do it, but I know if this horrendous act mars Christmas, evil will have won.

Then Ray Rover dropped by with a couple of empty ½ deep dish pans and told me of his effort to feed the hungry on Christmas Day with food prepared by hundreds, maybe thousands, of people, mainly churches from all over the area. My Christmas spirit started to percolate again. Watch out evil, good is entering the battlefield.

You can help, too. All you have to do is call Rover with Heritage@Houston at 478-284-8463. Prepare a ½ deep dish Christmas pan with your favorite mac and cheese, chicken or other casserole and drop it by the church, located at 4116 Houston Avenue, on Christmas morning about 11:30 a.m.

You don’t even have to leave your car, a Boy Scout troop will be there to take your pan inside, but if you decide to stay and visit, you can do that, too.

Serving others, those in need, quickens the afterwhile, making way for a real Christmas.

Charles E. Richardson is The Telegraph’s editorial page editor. He can be reached at (478)744-4342 or via e-mail at crichardson@macon.com.