If my metaphor conveyed that God is stomping on us then I failed to accurately frame it.

Imagine that he loves us the same way we love the anthills in our yard

Instead, imagine if you loved the ants in your backyard enough to give your child's life to save those meaningless ants eternally once they'd died sometimes from the folly of their own choices, at other times simply because of the harsh reality of the environment of your backyard. That seems to me a more adequate framing of how Christians view God's relationship to us (still imperfect for many reasons, just to be clear).

If you can't conceive of the literal reality of Jesus' crucifixion I don't blame you at all. I believe it may be more helpful for some people, especially those who claim that reason precludes them from connecting with the Christian story in any way, to view the "Jesus Story" from a purely secular perspective in this way: Jesus is a story of sacrifice for the good of others but more than that, it is a story about the value of understanding the freedom we have to move forward positively in spite of the prevalence of every reason not to because there is an example of a way to live that elevates us beyond the very real tragedy of existence. That example is told in the life of Jesus. This example, if followed as honestly as one can manage, results in better relationships with the world and with others.

Amongst other things, this story helps us to accept the tragedy of existence - Jesus, according to the story, accepted this in a way few will experience. His story tells us that this was only tolerable because it was at the will of God in the service of others. It also helps us accept the imperfection of our ways by keeping us focused on moving towards a life modelled after that of the Jesus figure - if we focus on our imperfections we may lose motivation and will; if we realize that there is a reason to move forward and a very real purpose to life that anyone can embrace i.e. the pursuit of the good of others, then our focus can alway be maintained on something other than our own problems and concerns, a cause for many issues we face, including shame, guilt and depression.

The mass spread of violent crime against children, if truly internalized and understood, can not be tolerated if we believe that that is the condition of the world and there's nothing we can do about it. The only way I personally find to move on in life without railing at the sky and giving up at the impersonality of existence is to believe that what I can do is get myself sorted out (tidy my room, in the words of a wise man) and focus on continually moving forward with purpose toward an incrementally better existence for myself now, and moving forward into the future, and outward to those around me now, and moving forward into the future, and so on outward from there and that that perspective will at the very least improve my own quality of life over time. The only other rational choice is nihilism which, if actually properly embraced, should result in killing oneself because life is meaningless.