Tragic event helps survivor accept that God is in control

Omaha (Catholic Voice) - For many people living peacefully with the idea that God is in control is a life-long evolution.

For Chuck Wright this acceptance began just seven years ago and was accelerated when he survived the shooting spree at Omaha's Von Maur Department Store in December 2007.

It was what Wright called "a typical day" at Von Maur and he was on his way back to clock in after lunch at a mall restaurant when he heard loud noises. "It sounded like circuit breakers going off," said Wright, a member of St. Columbkille Parish in Papillion. "Then I heard two more of those sounds and realized it was gun fire."

As shots continued to ring out, he and another employee took cover in the west storage room. "By the time we had gotten there, the shooting had stopped. It was less than a minute," he said.

While still hidden, he called his wife and told her he was okay, but there had been a shooting.

"I kept looking out the door and saw no activity. It was very quiet," he said.

After about 15 minutes, a lone deputy arrived and began to assess the carnage that had unfolded as Wright returned to work. Nine people were dead, including the troubled youth who had caused it all.

In the chaos that followed, Wright said he quickly realized that something had kept him safe. Returning just a few minutes earlier from lunch would have put him on the escalator with the shooter, or at the very least, in plain view of him as he began his deadly ascent to the third floor, Wright said.

He called it another turning point in a series of discoveries he was making about trusting God. Since turning 59 seven years ago, Wright found himself re-evaluating his life and his work.

He and his wife Peggy have been married 41 years and have raised three sons, who have families of their own. He wondered both verbally and through his daily journaling what God wanted him to do.

As a young man, Wright said he was "combative" both in how he accepted God's guidance and life. This included needing to know what the future held and then acting as if he could control everything, he said.

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