“Need prayers to get through this,”  is the message from Rick Zamarripa, father of a police officer killed in Dallas, sent from the hospital where his son Patrick was taken.

Father, we bring this father’s request to you.

Whether Dallas, Baghdad, Istanbul or many other places, our world seems to be an unsafe world. Most of us know people who have passed through these cities. Australia does not seem so far away after all.

We know, that it is you, not us, that has the whole world in your hands. (The ABC news promo has that wrong.)

We know that your son Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

We know that you restrain wickedness on the earth, that you hold back strife and discord even as we mourn.

The rainbow is our sign that life, seedtime and harvest, will continue on Earth at your pleasure. Our hope is truly in you.

Yet we mourn with those who mourn. Please be with the families united across the globe in grief.

Bring peace where there is war and rage. Plant your peace through the gospel in the hearts of those filled today with rage. Bring justice, where there is no justice. Bring love where there is no love.

Help us, your people, be your agents of change and love.

Dear Father, please be with the fathers who mourn, the heartbroken mothers of this world, the broken families.

May many turn to your son, risen with healing in his wings.

May they know that you are the author of true peace.